P4G: Dark Days and Midnight Problems
by Zer0fool
Summary: Can you be scared of death if you tried to achieve it? American exchange student Kreed Richards has come to Inaba the on same day as Yu Narukami. As the murders take palce in foggy Inaba, Kreed is pulled into the investagation team to help solve the case. This will follow Persona 4 Golden, Persona 4 Arena, and a new story arc! OCxChie, YuxMarie. Chapter 47 is up!
1. Chapter 1: Welcome to Inaba

Two things before we begin! Please note that since this story has Japanese main characters all spoken parts that are_ italicized_ are in English or other languages… mostly just English. I own NOTHING here except for my own character, all rights for Persona 4 belong to Atlus, I repeat! I only own my OC not Persona 4, that would be Atlus!

* * *

"Damnit!" I clenched my stomach as pain raced through my abdomen. All of my breath was lost now. Yet I still had enough energy to look around me. The world slowed down to the point I was able to take in every detail around. All of my friends were now battling for their lives; though not just our lives now, the lives of every person in the world. Yet we were hopelessly out gunned by one creature that we had surrounded and none of our attacks had put so much as a scratch on it.

Suddenly a shock shot out of the creature that flung everybody at least ten feet backwards. It now turned its head towards the leader of our group and started to speak. Its voice was distorted and deep as the words boomed from its mouth. "_**You are the ones that defeated her? She must have been weaker then I imagined. Not matter; this is where you all die! Starting with you Izangai!**_"

The towering beast held its hand above its head as energy started to crackle along its arm and formed an orb of pure darkness. I knew what it was; I struggled to get up on my feet, after that last attack I was the only one not dazed. I started running for the leader I had to get there in time, or he would die! I was the only one capable of saving him now. The orb of darkness grew large as the energy radiated with from it. I ran as fast as I could, I saw all nine of my friends starting to stir again. Including her… she saw me running for or friend and she knew what I was doing. She yelled at me, though I could not hear what she said as the adrenaline pumped through my blood. Yet I heard the creature's voice boom again. "_**Now all of you witness the death of your leader!**_"

At that moment the beast threw the orb at my friend, yet before anyone could react, I rammed into his shoulder knocking back to the ground as he stumbled out of the range of the attack. That's when I heard him yell at me as well... "Kreed run!"

It was too late; the orb was mere inches away from me as I heard her voice again. She screamed one word, one word that put all of her shock, pain, and sadness together. "No!"

Then everything went black as I stood there taking the attack full force. Then I thought back to how this whole thing started.I wanted to say everything I felt in that moment, yet all that came out was one word. Then the world went black.

"Per…so…na!"

* * *

Monday April 11, 2011

Forecast… Cloudy in the day and Rain late at night.

Specific time: Around 4 pm.

The train seemed to move slow as I stared out of the window. Here I was in a place I barely knew; I chuckled though, this was my chance to start fresh. Only problem was I was in Japan and I was from a small town in Iowa. So before I left I had to learn Japanese; which took a year and a half. Yet I was pretty good at it; I sighed thinking about the fact that I still forgot to speak it sometimes. At the both to buy a train ticket I accidently asked for the platform in English, which caused the man behind the both to look at me like I was an alien that landed in front of him.

Suddenly I was shaken from my thoughts as an announcement came over the trains PA system. "YasoInaba, YasoInaba."

I pushed my glasses back up my noise before a smile appeared on my face as I reached up to grab my bags; I finally had a chance to start over and I was going to make the most out of it. The train stopped at a small station that had a sign out in front of it. _Yasoinaba_ I laughed again only this time someone's voice sounded behind me. "Why are laughing?"

I swung my head around so fast I… well kind of fell flat on my ass. "_Son of bitch that hurt!_" I looked up to see a teenager about my age wearing black jacket over a black zip up vest of some kind. _Wait is that a vest?_ There was a dark grey turtle neck on under those. He also had on black slacks on and his hair was silver, which was weird to me, but hey not going question it. His eyes were a brownish color as well.

"I'm sorry, but what did you say?" The boy raised an eyebrow at me now. "I don't speak English, so…"

I looked at him for a moment before realizing that he had a few things of luggage with him as well. "Oh, um… sorry, I didn't mean to do that," I got to my feet collecting my things from the ground. "I'm still not used to speaking Japanese yet."

I was rubbing the back of my neck at that exact moment as he just smiled and nodded at me. I held my hand to him. "I'm Kreed, Kreed Richards!"

"Yu Narukami," He shook my hand for a few moments before letting go and placing his hand down by his side. "Are you in High school?"

"Yeah," I chuckled slightly at the question. "I guess I'm a second year even though I was a senior in my old school."

"Really?" Yu titled his head at my comment. "Why?"

"My grades weren't the best." He looked at me for a moment before we both laughed a little. "So, are you waiting for someone?"

"Yeah," Yu sighed. "My uncle should be here soon. So are you going to Yasogami High?"

"Yes," I gave him a weird look. "Why are you?"

"Yep." Yu smiled back for a moment, when someone walked up to us.

"Hey over here!" A man with black hair and some stumble on his chin; he wore a grey button down shirt with a red tie and some black dress jeans. Behind him was a little girl with light brown hair that was in pig tails, she wore a small dress that had different shades of pink on it. Under her dress she had a white sweater.

"Well," Yu smiled as he started to walk away. "I'll see you at school tomorrow. It was nice to meet to Kreed!"

"You too," I sighed as he walked up to the older man and the little girl. I breathed in deeply at this point. _Not even five minutes here and I already know someone._ I reached into the pocket of my jeans and pulled out little red device with headphones attached to the bottom of them. I turned on my i-pod and turned to the _Highway to Hell_. Any song that I listened to would help calm my nerves, even if it was the most effective song in the world. It would calm me down; needless to say that I always had my i-pod on my person. "_Time to walk home; all the way now."_

As I walked away from Yu and whoever was there to pick him up, I bumped into someone and my glasses, currently at the bridge of my nose fell to the ground. I was near sited so I could still see what they looked like. Her hair was short and black, her skin was pale. She stared at me with grey eyes, she had some shadow around her eyes and some kind of lip stick, not that I cared. She wore a white button down vest with a black tie that had… where those safety pins? Well, whatever, she also had a skirt that was checkered as well as protective sleeves on her forearms that were stripped black and red. Finally, she had long black boots and even longer stockings on that were stripped white and black.

"Crap!" I bent down to grab my glasses as she looked at me with a glare. _If looks could kill right?_ "Sorry I didn't see there!"

"Whatever," she almost snarled the words at me. "Just look where you're walking next time!"

With that she walked away from me as I stood back up with my glasses on now. I didn't want to turn around to see where she went. I mean that was really freaking rude of her! I even apologized to her, what the hell was her problem? I just shook my head and kept walking forward…

I slowly made my way towards the direction of the house I would be staying in. Yet with how I was dressed I was surprised that now one stopped to ask me where I was from. I had on a light grey button-down shirt that was buttoned all the way down; I didn't tuck it in of course as was my style. I had on blue jeans with white tennis shoes dawned upon my feet. My hair was dark brown and covering a majority of my hair was a grey beanie that I loved to wear kind of like Beat from _The World Ends With You_. Yet because of the way I wore my hat, there was always a chance that it would fall off. So I used my glasses to keep them on. I walked through the town looking at a map on my phone so I could find my way there.

My parents had shipped me out here so I could try and get better grades and succeed in life. It was only to be for at least a year with regular visits every other month or so to check up on me. They were paying for the house that I was to stay in. If I was doing well after the first visit they would let me go back home, so I had one plan, fail every class before their first visit! I noticed that the song on my i-pod had changed to an instrumental song that had bag pipes as the main instrument. This caused me to smile. I loved many types of music, but it was something about Celtic bag pipe music that just made me want to dance slightly.

I walked for a time before I came across a sort of shrine that was surrounded by stores and shops. Near the shrine I saw a boy who I guess seemed older than me, but then again I was seventeen. The boy had on a long sleeved shirt with a skull on the front with a school jacket over his shoulders. His hair looked like it had been bleached white and there was a scar above his left eye. I walked up to the teen hoping to get directions.

"_Hello-_I mean Hello!" I almost slapped myself for that one. "I need some help with directions."

The guy turned around with a glare on his face. "Huh, who are you?"

"Oh!" I was a little taken off guard by his question. He seemed annoyed by my very existence, I hoped that wasn't the case, because if so I didn't want to have to walk around all night looking for my new house. "I'm new in town my name is Kreed Richards."

He raised an eyebrow for a second before sighing for a moment. His glare disappeared for a moment when he say my bags. "Oh, well what did you need again? Oh yeah, directions!"

"Yeah," I smiled; he seemed nice enough, just a little on guard for some reason. I didn't want to butt into his personal business. So I avoided asking. "I just need help finding the Same-ga-wa, I think that's how it's said, riverbank."

"Oh," He smiled a bit and laughed. "The river bank huh, you homeless?"

"W-what?" I recoiled from his question dropping two of my four bags. "No I'm not freaking homeless! What gave you that idea?"

"I'm joking," the teen laughed lightly. "Anyway, you can get there from here easily just keep heading south and follow the road. There are not many people who drive out this late, but still keep an eye out for cars."

"Thanks- um?"

"Kanji, Kanji Tastumi."

"Well thanks Kanji, it was nice to meet you!" I waved at him as I recollected my bags and started to walk south until I passed by a gas station and someone called out to me.

"Hey," It was an attendant. "You need any help!"

"No thanks," I waved at him as I walked farther down the road. "I know where I'm going."

It was a half, I mean I did now where I was going, just not where I was. I mean was this place really their definition of a small town! Because if so he needed to show these people a map of his home town! About half an hour later I came across the river bank and the song _Half way Gone_ started to play. All I could do was sigh at this. It was just my luck too, the clouds over head started to get darker and that's when I felt the first drop land right on my forehead. My eyes grew wide as the rain started to come down. "Son of a-!"

Needless to say, I ran the last mile and a half to my house. I knew it my house because there was a sign in front of it that said _Sold!_ The house was white and two stories tall. I ran straight for the door and pulled out the new key from my pocket. Struggling to get the key in the hole as the rain was coming down like cats and dogs, yet to me, it felt like God was laughing at me while shooting fricking pebbles at me out of a cannon. A.K.A. it FREAKING HURT! Finally getting the key in the lock and throwing the door open I fell flat on my face as my bags flew everywhere inside. "_Motherfucker that hurt…"_

Quickly jumping back to my feet I turned and slammed the door the front of the house. I slid down the door and looked around the main floor of the house. It was small, but had enough room for a few people to hang out in comfortably in. There was already furniture in the house, thanks to my parents, and a small flat screen TV. Basically the was ready for a family of at least to live in it, yet there was only one person here, I sighed and collected my bags from the ground and walked down a small hallway that lead to a stair case heading up to the second floor. There were two rooms up there. My room and a guest room, I walked to the first down to the right of the stairs, my room, and opened the door. I was way too tired to even try and unpack, so I carefully dropped my stuff on the floor and looked at my new room.

It was small, but could still hold at least four people comfortably; there was a small couch for two people in front of the window with dresses and wardrobe lining the opposite wall. There was a small twin bed that was already made on the wall farthest from the door. I grabbed an alarm clock from my duffel bag, plugged it in and set an alarm. "_Good bye hell, hello Inaba!_"

With that I flopped myself on the bed and quickly fell asleep.

* * *

Tuesday April 12, 2011

Forecast… Rain in the morning while Cloudy at night

Specific time: Unknown

I woke up to a beeping sound. I looked at my clock for a moment rubbing my eye, I jumped in shock at the time, and it was almost eight. I had to hurry to make it to school on time, which is what I did, but my luck was not with considering that for some freaking reason my forehead had become a goddamned magnet for door frames and walls. Running out of my door I made a mad dash for Yosagmi High for the first day that changed my life forever… Well I hoped that's what was going to happen, yet I just ran a few feet before realizing I forgot my bag! Well no doubt the classes didn't really start today; I mean it was the first day of school. So just ran faster while opening an umbrella I grabbed from my house and tryed to make it on time, as I ran by the flood plain I noticed someone I actually recognized, only this time he had on the school's uniform, which thankfully still made it easy to see him. "Yo! Narukami!"

Yu turned around to see who had called for him, when he noticed me he just smiled a bit and nodded. "Hey."

"Well my school's this way," I looked next to Yu and noticed the little girl that was with him yesterday. "Bye."

As she ran off back past the flood plain Yu just kind of smiled, brought a question to my mind. "Your sister?"

"Nope," He chuckled and turned to keep walking towards school. "Cousin…"

"Oh!" I walked next to the hoe time, yet he finally noticed that I was still wearing my hat once we made it past the flood plain.

"Why are you wearing that hat?" Narukami titled his head at his own question.

"Oh," I laughed at the awkwardness of the question. "Cause I can and I will!"

We both laughed for a moment until we heard someone from behind us. "Wooooooah!"

I barely had time to react as the bike came speeding down the street with the cyclist frantically trying to regain control of the bike. Unfortunately for me…. I was in his path of destruction. The bike hit me sending the rider, me and his bike to the ground. "Ow… _Why does this keep happening to me?_"

Yu helped me up to my feet as the cyclist, who was wearing a Yasogami uniform, was holding his crouch and gasping in pain. "We better leave him alone…"

I just nodded in agreement, for two reasons; one, my back fucking hurt now, but I could still walk, and two, the cyclist was still just trying to gain his bearings. After about three more minutes of groaning by me and walking to school. We finally made it to our new school. "Finally, what's next for me, bricks raining down on my head?"

Which knowing my luck was bound to happen at some point in the near future. Thank you God for your weird ass sense of humor! We made our way into the building and were almost immediately stopped by one of the weirdest looking people I have ever seen, and please note I lived in IOWA, but that's beside the point. He was bent over more than was humanly possible, he had black hair that looked like it was starting to thin out. He wore a blue pin stripped suit with a yellow tie and white button down tie. Yet what really took the freaking cake where that fact that his teeth looked like they could be used to make shelter for every last person in Africa! That's when he started talking and didn't sound muffled, don't ask me how that was even possible with his mammoth teeth! "You two! Are you the two new transfer students?"

Yu and me both just looked at him dumbfound for a second before Yu responded. "Yes, I'm in class room two dash two."

I quickly responded shortly after him, only I fucked up and spoke English. "_I am in the same room as him."_

They both stared at me for a second, that's when I realized I screwed up, yet before I could respond the man, a teacher from my guess yelled at me. "Listen you little American prick! Just because you don't know Japanese doesn't mean you can go and insult us by speaking your hick language! You're on my shit list effective immediately!"

"I'm sorry Sir!" I quickly redoubled. "I meant to say I am also in room two dash two!"

"Great!" the man gave us a death glare for some unknown reason. "You're both in my class, so follow me!"

Which we did, as we walked up the stairs to the second floor some people started to stare at me and Yu; me most likely because I still had my beanie on, and the fact that me and Yu were transfer students. As we came to our class room the teacher opened the door and we followed him in, I already felt the butterflies building in my stomach. The teacher spoke up to the class now. "Awright, shut your traps! I'm Kinshiro Morooka, your homeroom teacher from today forward!"

My eyes went in all different directions as I already started to try and memorize the lay out of the room. Not because I was nervous, it was just a habit of mine. Mr. Morooka continued his speech. "First things first! Just 'cause it's spring doesn't mean you can swoon over each other like love-struck baboons. Long as I'm around, you students are going to be pure as the driven snow!"

I had to hold back my laughter after hearing that part of the speech, it was ridiculous and the other students knew it as well. My eyes finally looked at the two empty seats in the class, though I quickly noticed the short brown haired girl sitting next to one of the open seats. Though I didn't get a good look as Mr. Morooka continued again. "Now I hate wasting my time, but I'd better introduce these transfer students. This sorry loser's been kicked out of his home from the States, while the other sad sack's been thrown from the big city out to the middle of nowhere like yesterday's garbage. And they are just as much as losers here as they were over there, so girls better not get any ideas about hitting on them!"

I was dumbstruck at that, he had no idea who we were and he already seemed to hate us! "Tell 'em your names, and make it quick, after all one of you is already on my shit list!"

Yu looked at me and vice versa, so I quickly went first. "Hello _my na- wait I mean!_ My name is Kristopher 'Kreed' Richards. _Nice, gah again!_ Nice to meet you all, just please call me Kreed with a 'k.'"

I totally screwed up my first impression. _Way to go Kreed, now you look like anasshole!_

"What did I tell you about speaking English you little prick!" Mr. Morooka was quick on the draw, yet I just looked down towards the ground after he finished yelling at me. "Now listen you two! This town is miles away from your big city and country of perverts and assholes, in more way than one. You two better not even think of getting involved with the girls here, let alone abusing them!"

My jaw just dropped, I looked back at Morooka, he looked totally pissed off, and to quote him, "in more ways than one!" "But what do I know… it's not like the old days. Even here, kids grow up so damn fast. Every time I turn my back, you're fooling around on those damn phones, checking your life-journals and your my-places…"

He was starting to get on my nerves, sure I had a Facebook, but I never used the damn thing! Not only that but he tried and failed to use sarcasm! He kept ranting only this time to the class until a girl raised her hand and asked an honest question. "Excuse me! Is it okay if the transfer student sits here?"

Morooka stopped to look at the girl, that stopped his ranting for a short time as he looked right at her. The two open seats where one next to her and one at the front of the class in front of a long black haired girl with a red jacket on. "Huh? Yeah, sure. Ya hear that? Your seat's over there America prick! Oh yeah the other sad sack, while he goes to sit down tell us you damned name."

I quickly walked over to the open seat next to the girl, finally I could see what she looked like. Her hair was short and light brown, her eyes where brown as well. She wore a green jogging jacket with three pins on it, she also had on the school uniform skirt and shoes. She started to whisper to me as Yu introduced himself and got another mouth full for Morooka. "He's the worst huh?"

"That would be a freaking understatement!" I agreed with her smiling slightly. I'd be lying if I told you I didn't think she was kinda cute. "And I've dealt with worse."

She smiled back at me before she quickly started frowning. Rotten luck for you to get stuck in this class… Well, we just have to hang in there for a year."

"Not really," I replayed still smiling. "I already know someone in this class, better than no one right?"

She looked me now with shock now, she knew I was right, yet even so it was going to be hell stuck this class. That's when I heard everyone start talking about me and Narukami. "Sucks to be a transfer student, ending up in King Moron's class on the first morning here…"

_King Moron… Hell if the shoe fits!_ I almost laughed again, but it was quickly dismissed after hearing some of the other things people were saying. "What is with the weird ass hat he is wearing? Who knows. Think he is like other Americans? Most likely."

My head hit my desk before I had time to think, great first day and not even five minutes and people think I'm an uneducated moronic asshole!

"Shut your traps! I'm taking roll, and I damn well expect you to respond in an orderly manner!"

I could only whisper one thing to tell myself. "_Welcome to hell Kreed, welcome to hell!_"

* * *

Time change: Early Morning to After School

"That's all for today. Normal lectures will start tomorrow." Finally King Moron had stopped talking! Now I could kind of relax as people started to get up and walk around the room. Yet just as I was about to jump out of my seat the sound of the PA system came on and a woman started to talk.

"Attention all teachers, please report to the faculty room for a brief staff meeting. All students must return to their classrooms and are not to leave the school until further notice." The first thing that I did was take my glasses off, set off to the side of my desk and started to lightly bang my head against my desk as Yu walked over to me; I mean yeah I wanted to try and be social with everyone, but King Moron had worn me out!. King Moron turned back to the class and once again started to yell!

"Hrnh." Morooka hated what he heard just as much as I did. "You heard the announcement. Don't go anywhere until you hear otherwise."

With that he left the room and the moment the door closed some girl in the room started complaining about him. Yet their gossip was interrupted by the sound of sirens going off in the distance, which caused me to stop hitting my head against my desk. I kind of heard three male students start gossiping by the window about wondering what was going on, yet I had trouble making out what they were saying with everyone else gossiping around me as well, I heard something about an announcer and then one ran over to the girl that sat just behind Yu. "H-hey, Yukiko-san, Mind if I ask you something…?"

Well now I had a name for a face. "Is it true that announcer's staying at your family's inn?"

Damn an inn? How come I knew nothing of there being an inn in town? Yukiko looked away from the male student and sighed before responding to him. "I can't discuss such things…"

A.K.A. the announcer was definitely at their inn. "Y-yeah, I guess not."

With that the male student walked away from Yukiko, I stopped paying attention as I grabbed my i-pod and started listening to_ Bullet_ by Hollywood Undead. I couldn't help but chuckle, for some reason this song made me laugh a little. Yu finally spoke up next to me. "What you listening to?"

"Hear just listen." I gave him an ear bud, thank god that he seemed to recognize the song, I was not speaking Japanese for this song.

_My legs are dangling off the edge._

_The bottom of the bottle is my only friend!_

_I think I'll slit my wrist again and I'm gone, gone, gone, gone._

Suddenly another announcement came on. "Attention, all students. There has been an incident inside the school district. Police officers have been dispatched around the School Zone. Please stay calm and contact your parents or guardians as soon as possible, and quickly leave the school grounds. Do not disturb the police officers. Head directly home. I repeat…"

"Well, looks like you need to call your parents," Yu looked at me.

"No they are still back in America," I sighed loudly. "They didn't even care that I left!"

I got out of my seat and me and turned to leave, Yu had an apologetic frown on his face. When from behind me I heard a familiar voice. "Hey are guys going home by yourselves?"

"Well I live not too far past the flood plain, so that was the plan." I responded turning around to see the girl who sat next to me in class followed closely by Yukiko.

"Oh," She smiled brightly now. "Why don't you come with us?"

I looked over at you and we just kinda shrugged at each other. "Sure."

"Cool!" The girl smiled brightly now, then she almost blurted out the next few words. "Oh, nearly forgot! I'm Chie Satonaka. You know I sit next to you, right?"

I smiled back as brightly as I could for how tired I felt. "Kinda hard to forgot, but yeah nice to meet you."

"Yu Narukami." Ladies and gentlemen Yu Narukami master of language.

"Nice to meet you guys too!" Chie then turned to her friend whom was, guess who Yukiko. Yeah, my thought process was way wacky that day. "This is Yukiko Amagi."

"Oh," Yukiko seemed to nice, yet still a little up tight to me that is. "Nice to meet you… I'm sorry that this is sudden…"

"C'mon," Chie looked shocked for whatever reason, I had to chuckle a little at her. Yea she was a person I could hang out with. "Don't apologize like that. It makes me look like I got no upbringing."

I couldn't help it after, I started to laugh, and I didn't mean to be mean. Yet, holy hell her face and reaction didn't help me at all. Managed to get some words out in between laughs. "I'm… s-sorry! I… d-don't mean… I… meant… Oh, god, I'm sorry, but I didn't mean to seem like a jerk!"

Yu just smiled at, I mean hell! I guess we were already friends; but damn I felt bad for laughing at Chie. Chie just sighed and shook her head. "It's fine, I mean you are new here; so we wouldn't know you yet. Besides, I just wanted to ask some stuff that's all."

I smiled again, thinking that I just might be able to fit in. We started to walk away when a brown haired student with a bleak look on his face walked up to us. He had light brown spikey hair that it ally pointed to the ground, as well as brown eyes. He wore boom-box head phones around his neck and a white t-shirt with a red caller under his uniform jacket. His bag hung from his around his should and went to his hip. "Uh, um, Miss Sotanaka…?"

I looked at him for a moment as he pulled out a DVD or game case, I guess was on DVD. Yet he sound familiar to me, I just couldn't place where. "This was really awesome. Like, the way they moved was just amazing to see…"

He started to look familiar as well, I just could place it as he bowed from the hip holding out the DVD, I got a look at it thought, _Trial of the Dragon_. Yup movie, logic zero, me one! "And… I'm really sorry! It was an accident! Please just have mercy until my next paycheck!"

Okay there where two options at this point and I knew it. Option one: he broke it, yet then why would he bother giving it back, I mean I would have replaced it first! Option two: he lost the DVD and he was giving her back the case. Which made even less sense then giving it back to him broken; so I went with the second option. After Chie grabbed the case he quickly stood up all the way and turned to run away. "See ya! Thanks!"

He didn't even make it five steps before Chie gave chase. "Stop right there! What did you do to my DVD!?"

Me and Yu both bent over in physical pain as Chie quickly and incredibly hard kicked the boy right where the sun don't shine. I bite on my finger "Oh god! Round one goes to Miss Sotanaka!"

Yu and Yukiko just nodded in agreement to my statement. The boy was jumping up and down in pain, and that's when it hit me who he was as he groaned. Yet before I could say anything Chie opened the case. The look that appeared on her face was that of a kid who just watched there puppy die; it was a DVD though why not just buy a new one.

"What the!? I can't believe this! It's completely cracked… My _Trial of the Dragon…!"_ Damn, now it was logic one, yet now I had two for getting the DVD right! So I quickly fist pumped when I was sure that no one could hear me. Then I heard the boy who I was pretty sure had just lost his man hood groan out a few sentences.

"I think mine's cracked too…" I winced in pain when I heard that. I mean, yeah he broke her DVD and he ran… you know what no, he deserved it after all that.

"Then I guess next time you won't break da movie!" I said pointing at the back of his head. "By the way Chie; one hell of a kick ya got there."

"D-dude," the boy groaned again. "Not cool, I mean that was a C-critical hit to the nads…"

"Again," I smiled an evil little grin. Yet I was actually having fun in this school so far, even if Yu was my only real friend at the moment. "Ya done goofed!"

Yukiko looked shocked after hearing the boys last comment and quickly went to see if he was okay. "A-are you all right?"

"Does he look all right?" I asked sarcastically. "I mean the dude did just get KOed with a single strike."

"Yeah," Yu nodded in agreement to my statement. "That was still an amazing job catching him though."

"I will agree with that one as well!"

Chie closed her DVD case and slipped back into her backpack, while turning her head away from the boy to look at Yukiko with a slightly pissed off expression. "He's fine, Yukiko. Let's ditch him and go home."

With that Chie and Yukiko left the room, leaving the poor bastard to deal with his pain. He was definitely wasn't going to be walking for a while, that was for sure!

"We should leave him be…" Yu commented as he walked out the door as well. I quickly followed suit, after all the dude did run me over with his bike. At least I think he did anyway. So the four of us quickly walked out of the school building and over to the front gate not really saying anything until someone came out from around the side of the gate. He had on a black suit with a school symbol on it and green tie. There was a mole or freckle thing under his right eye, his eyes reminded me of a fish with black eyes. His hair was completely messy and black.

"You're Yuki, right? Y-you want to go hang out somewhere?" By the looks of it we all nearly jumped out of our skin when he showed up, yet that was just messed up. Yukiko was the most taken off guard by the comment slash question.

"What…? Wh-who are you?" Students started to coward around as and started us, mostly the weird new guy, who was he if Yukiko didn't know who he was? I quickly dismissed those thoughts when I heard the other students.

"What's up with him?" A male student asked his friend, while still staring at him. "What school's he from?"

"Never mind that, he's going for Yukiko-san? Man, you'd think he'd at least wait until she's alone to make his move…" Stalker much, what the hell was wrong with these two? Oh yeah, creepy guy, got it!

"I bet you a can of TaP he gets knocked out."

I turned to Chie for a moment and whispered something in her ear. "What the hell is tap?"

"It's a soda."

"Oh!"

The two guys continued their conversation behind us as other people started to gather. "No bet. Haven't you heard how difficult the Amagi Challenge is?"

"Um…?" I was so confused by what the hell they were talking about; I thought that maybe her parents are strict as hell!

The strange student finally spoke up again, with irritation in his voice. "Um, s-so… are you coming or not?"

Yukiko sighed for a moment before very quickly responding to the boy in front of her. "I-I'm not going…"

I looked at Yu and very quickly had to whisper to him. "Well that was a little too fast, on his and her part!"

I didn't expect what happened next. The boy had snapped, well from the looks of it… snapped, again; he did seem a little crazy. Yet not only was he now pissed off, but he yelled! "Fine!"

I just about jumped back as he turned and ran down the street, away from us, thank god! Yukiko seemed shocked; hell I was shocked! Yet all she did was turn towards the rest of. "Wh-what did he want from me…?"

"Hell even I know what he wanted," I smiled elbowing Yu. I know all he wanted was a date, but you know what, I was still having fun even with that… um, weird course of events. Still it was enough to get a chuckle from Yu. Yukiko looked totally lost after I made my joke and Chie was pinching her nose in disbelief, yet at me or Yukiko was a totally different question.

"Really?" Yukiko was looking at me with questioning eyes. I didn't think it was that difficult to figure it out. Me and Chie both blurted out the answer at the same time.

"He wanted a date!"

Yukiko looked she was in shock by this answer. Who was it that hard to figure what it was that a guy asking a girl if she wanted to go with him was asking her out! I mean come on a ten year old probably could have seen that one from a mile away! I just shook it off as soon as I saw a familiar face walking towards the four of us. It was the kid who ran me over with his bike early in the morning. "Yo Yukiko-san. Turned down another lovelorn fool, huh? Man you're cruel… You got me the same way last year."

"Last year?" I whispered my question to Chie hoping to get answer from her about what this guy was talking about. Luckily Chie whispered a response to my question.

"Yeah, he tried for her last year. Got shot down almost the same way too!"

"Really?" I was surprised, Yukiko seemed at least a little popular from what I had seen that day. Yet who was I to judge; I mean come on, I spoke English to my new Japanese class, god I felt like an idiot just thinking about it. Yukiko and the cyclist continued their chat over mine and Chie's from what I heard she had no idea what she was doing and he tried again. Only to, guess what get shot down again! I was actually starting to like this school; well, except King Moron, then again I guess no one liked him.

"Anyways," Suddenly Chie snapped back to the cyclist as he started to address Chie and Yukiko. "You two better not pick on the transfer students too much."

With that he hopped on his bike and rode away, with a lot more skill than he had demonstrated this morning. Chie stomped her foot while yelling at the boy, who was now long gone. "We're just curious, is all!"

I had to try and hold back my laughter again, yep it was going to be fun here, that moment removed all doubt from my mind. Then Yukiko once again spoke up; apologizing, not that I had a problem with it, just it gets annoying if you apologize too much! "U-um, I'm sorry for dragging you two into this…"

"Not like I care," I smiled brightly back at her. "I'm having fun."

"O-oh," Yukiko seemed a little embarrassed at my comment, I had no idea why though. I wasn't trying to hit on her. I mean come on I just saw two reasons why not to! "Well I guess we should get going now."

"Yeah," Chie started to freak out a little, I thought for a moment that the fish eyed weirdo was back, but of course I was wrong. "People are staring! Let's go!"

Damn you logic, damn you!

We walked for some time until we reached the shopping district, which was of course north of my house, but whatever. Chie was trying to strike up a conversation with Yu at the moment. "Yeah, they had to go work for some time overseas, so I'm living here for the year with my Uncle and Cousin."

"Ah…" Chie titled her head slightly. "So you came here because of your parents' job. Haha, I thought it was something way more serious. What about you Kreed?"

I suddenly developed a look of fear. I didn't really want them to know, but sometimes a little mix of words can save a guy like me. "Oh, my grades weren't doing so hot no matter where I went to school in the states. So my parents made a deal with me; chose a country I wanted to live in, they picked the town and school. So here I am!"

"Oh," Yukiko sighed a bit and Chie titled her head while scratching the top of her head at the same time. "I get it."

"Good then explain it to me," Chie was confused now, which caused me to laugh a little. "I'm serious why would they do that, it makes no sense!"

"They're rich."

"Oh!" I know that would be her response, yet I wasn't going to take a dime of my parents money, even if they forced me! My train of thought was broken when Chie looked away from me and at a corn field just to our right. "There really is nothing here, huh?"

"Bigger than where I first lived!" It was true my home town was five times smaller than Inaba, so this was a nice change of pace for me! Chie laughed at me for a moment before continuing with her speech.

"That's what makes it nice, but there is nothing much we can show to people from outside." I knew that she was now talking to Yu and not the both of use. "Though, there is something from Mt. Yasogami…" I finally understood the name of the school! "I think our dyed clothes or pottery or something is kinda famous."

I laughed now. "Come on, it can't be famous if people living here have no idea what it is!"

"He's right," Yu just nodded in agreement to my statement. "Still it is a nice town so far."

Chie was lost in thought for a moment until she suddenly blurted out something out. "Oh wait, and there's the Amagi Inn! Yukiko's family runs it. It's the pride of Inaba!"

"Pride of the town?" I just shrugged, never been one for hotels. Yet I was new so I just let it slide.

Yukiko started to get flustered from Chie's flattery, which she made painfully obvious. "Huh? It's… just an old inn."

Chie turned to her friend and smiled at her. She thought that Yukiko was just being modest, though something told me that wasn't the case.

"No way," Chie continued to flatter Yukiko so I just decided to listen. "It's been in all sortsa magazines as a hidden treasure. It's a great inn! It's been going for generations, and Yukiko here is going to take over someday."

"Running the family business?" I interrupted Chie's rant about Amagi Inn, but still I suddenly thought I knew why Yukiko didn't like the complements, oh well! "Sometimes that can be tough."

"Yeah," Chie was still smiling. "But Yukiko can do it! I know that she can!"

Yukiko looked away from us, which told me it was time to switch topics; which was a miracle that Chie suddenly spoke up, because I had no idea what to talk about! "So, tell me. You think Yukiko's cute, huh Narukami?"

Had Yu and me been drinking anything we would have done a spit take, so I settled on having a coughing fit. Yet Yu seemed to turn on the freaking charm and answered truthfully! "Yeah I think so."

Again two words: coughing fit! Had Chie not been so absorbed in her victory, I'm sure she would have asked if I was okay. "I knew it!"

"Come on don't start this again." Yukiko sighed and looked at the ground.

"Wait wait wait," I had to stop them now. "Again? What the hell? How many transfer students do you guys get on a regular basis?"

Everyone laughed, well except Yukiko who just kinda chuckled, at least everyone got the joke! "Geeze… Chie!"

Chie laughed some more before apologizing to Yukiko. "Sorry, I'm sorry. But this our chance to talk to someone from the big city and someone from a different country and you barely said a word!"

"Yeah," I interrupted Chie's little, um… I guess pep talk; not that I was trying to be rude. "And I just had a coughing fit that could have been a spit take followed by a coughing fit!"

Chie giggled slightly, I smiled brightly. I think I could count Chie as a friend now. Suddenly Chie looked down the street towards a huge crowd of people. "What's that?" Chie started to walk towards the crowd, so we followed her down the street until we stopped next to the crowd. Everyone was talking; which was doing wonders for my ADHD! I was only able to catch a few words… "Hanging," "body," "high schooler."

"Wait…" Chie suddenly looked scared. "What did she just say? A dead body!?"

I was about to respond to her when a familiar face walked up to us. "Hey, what're you doing here?"

That's when I remembered who it was. It was the person who came to pick Yu up yesterday at the train station. Yu being the master of langue that he was simply replayed with… "We're just passing by."

The man sighed at Yu's comment. "I should have figured that's happen. That damn principal. We told him not to let them through here…"

"You know this guy?" Chie seemed surprised, I mean it was a small town, but still.

"Yeah," I spoke for Yu. "You came to pick him up at the train station yesterday, sorry I'm Kreed Richards, Yu's friend."

"Dojima," The man held out a hand to me. "Yu's uncle I'm looking after him, I'm glad though he was able to make a friend already. I hope all of you get along, but you three really should head straight home."

With that he started walking away as a man in a black suit and red tie ran past us to vomit across the street. I gagged and had to look away for a moment, less I joined him in empting my stomach! "Adachi! How long are you going to act like a rookie? You want to be sent back to the central office!?"

The man slowly walked back past us to follow Dojima as he walked away. "I'm sorry…"

"Go wash your face. We're gonna go around and gather information!" And with that they were gone and I was close to losing my lunch. Just when I was about to walk away and say good night to everyone, Chie spoke up.

"Was this what that announcement was about…?" She legitimately looked horrified.

"What do they mean…" Yukiko seemed scared just as much as Chie was. "It was hanging from the antenna…?"

Chie sighed and turned to Yukiko. "Hey, Yukiko…? Why don't we go to Junes some other time?"

"Good idea…"

"Alright then, we're taking off." Chie smiled again turning to both me and Yu. "Starting tomorrow, neighbors, let's do our best!"

"Agreed," I sighed. "See you guys later!"

Yu started to walk down a nearby street that lead to his house. While I started walking only to notice Chie and Yukiko where still with me. "Um, where do you guys live?"

Yukiko blushed a little with embarrassment, while Chie just smiled and quickly responded. "Just past the flood plain. Why?"

"That's where I'm headed too," I smiled brightly again. "Guess we're walking together neighbor."

Within ten minutes or so Yukiko had to say goodbye as she hopped on a bus that took her to her house, which of course was the Amagi Inn, god I felt like an idiot. So Chie and me just kept walking towards you homes, until she tried to start another conversation. "Hey, Kreed?"

"Huh? Yeah what is it Chie?"

"Did you think Yukiko was cute?" The question made me go into another coughing fit, god I thought I was going to be doing that a lot.

"Well," I started off, god there was no way to answer this without sounding like an ass or a creeper. "It's not the looks I'm there for; it's for who they really are. Yet she just doesn't seem like my type. S-sorry."

"Oh!"

Oh? Oh was all she had to say, god I thought she was trying to hook me up with Yukiko, guess I was wrong. "Yeah, and to be honest I'm still trying to make friends while I'm here, so yeah."

Chie smiled at me. "Well then I guess you already have two, right!"

I smiled as she stopped to turn down the roads that lead to her house. "Yeah, thanks. See you later!" With that I walked home and skipped dinner that night, because god, I was why too tired, yet wxicted for my second day Yasogami High!


	2. Chapter 2: Midnight Channel

_**AGAIN! I own nothing, sorry if there are spelling errors, I suck at spellign enjoy!**_

* * *

April 1, 2011

Forecast… Cloudy

Time: Early Morning

I yawned as I walked down the street on the way to school. I was a little drowsy from sleeping way too much last night, so of course for skipping dinner last night I had to wake up early just so I could eat. I basically had a three course meal, waffles, pancakes, baco- WAIT! Why am I focusing on this! That wasn't even the slightest bit important! ANYWAY! So walking to school… yeah I yawned then… Oh yeah! Once again after making it past the flood plain I noticed Yu, so I ran to catch up with him.

"Yo Narukami!" I called out to Yu, which in turn caused him to turn around to find the source of the voice. When he noticed me, he smiled and nodded. _And the award for most talkative person will NEVER go to Yu Narukami!_

"Ready for our second in the hell whole called King Moron's class," I smiled brightly at Yu. I didn't really mean it as a bad thing but still, King Moron was an ass.

"Only if you are." Yu and I just started to laugh loudly as we walked towards our destination, well that was until I heard the sound of a bike speeding down the road. I turned my head back to look, once again having no time to react. The cyclist was the same one from yesterday, and once again he ramped his bike off of my back as he flew over my head and landed into a nearby trash can.

"Not if that happens one more time!" I withered in pain for a moment before climbing to my feet. The cyclist was currently rolling around in the trash can trying desperately to get out of the thing.

"S-someone…" As he plead for help I sighed I didn't want to, but I decided to help him.

"Yu," I tried to get his attention, thank god he was already walking over to help the other guy. "Grab the can and I'll grab his arms to try and make it easier."

Yu nodded in agreement at this, man it was easy to get along with this guy. Yu grabbed the can and pulled the guy to his feet as I grabbed his wrist. I just looked at Yu for a moment until I started to nod mouthing out numbers from three down to zero. When I reached it we both pulled in opposite directions, and in less the a few seconds the can popped off of the student. He sighed in relief as the can came off of his head and quickly grabbed his bike. "Whew, you guys saved me. Thanks! Um… Oh, yeah, that's right. You're the transfer students Yu Narukami and Kreed Richards."

"Yep," I smiled slightly at him. "The two and only, _wait that didn't sound right crap!_ Um, I mean, that's us!"

"Still thanks," He chuckled lightly as I finished making an ass out of myself, again! "I'm Yosuke Hanamura. Nice to meet ya guys."

"Awesome," I held my hand out to shake his. "Now I know who to send the medical bills for my back!"

"W-what?" Yosuke seemed scared for a moment. "Oh, oh! Sorry, my bike seems to be busted for some reason."

"Smooth." We laughed for a moment before I got serious again. "But no serious, if my back is messed up I'm making you pay for it."

Yosuke seemed scared for a moment, while looking at me until he realized something "more important." "Say, did you guys hear about the incident from yesterday? They found that announcer lady hanging from an antenna!"

"No I fell asleep almost the moment I walked in my door." I mused about my night and Yosuke quickly responded by continuing his rant.

"You think it was some kinda warning? There's no way something that weird could've been an accident."

Yu nodded for a moment and actually said something! I thought the world was going to end at that moment! "You might be right."

"Hey Yu," Yu looked at me for a moment. "I'm going to go on ahead, see ya later. You too Yosuke."

With that they both nodded at me and I started to walk away. Trying to make it to school on time lost in all my thoughts. After a few more minutes I pulled out my phone and noticed the time and started to freak out. _SON OF A BITCH CLASS IS STARTING!_ I started to run for the school as a bike passed me and crashed a few feet in front of me, Yu and Yosuke both in a pile on the ground. Both of them moaning in pain, all I could do was slam my hand onto my forehead. "I'm not even going to ask."

* * *

Time Change: Early morning to Morning

It was the middle of class and of course, King Moron was already on our cases, so I decided to avoid the problem as a hole. I was able to sneak my head phones through my school uniform and since no one objected to me wearing my beanie is school for some weird ass reason, I used it to head the one ear bud I was using in my hand to hide my left ear bud as I half listened to the lector that Morooka was attempting to give us. Chie had seen what I was doing and looked at me with a worried look in her eyes. She mouthed the words "What are you doing?"

I gave her an evil smile back. "Listening to AKG!" I mouthed the words and she titled her head. King Moron must have noticed us, because, well he yelled something about being indecent. Not that I heard a single thing with _Blue Train_ blasting in my ear. This was something that I did normally at my old school, so I was ready at any moment for if I was asked a question; thank god that didn't happen though. The school day went quick with one of my favorite bands blasting in my ear.

* * *

Time Change: Morning to After School

After school I had _Flashback_, ironic right? Still Yosuke was stretching in front of his desk as Yu walked over to mine, which surprising was right in behind of mine. As the song started winding down I could help but confuse everyone around me, so I basically loudly screamed the last word of the song. "_FLASHBACK!_"

Everyone in the class just turned to look at me like I was crazy, so I just smiled like a mad man. It was fun to actually act insane when you were convinced that you yourself are! "Sorry, song stuck in my head!"

Yu smiled, he was the only other person that had noticed I had my i-pod running all day. I don't know how, when he was behind me. Yosuke smirked at me. "So, you guys getting used to this place?"

"Yeah." Yu smiled at Yosuke, yet Yosuke seemed surprised for a moment.

"Wow really?" Yosuke laughed slightly. "That was fast! What about you Kreed?"

"Dude," I smiled evilly again. "You people call this place small; you should see where I'm from! At least you guys have a place to shop!"

"That," Yosuke raised an eyebrow at me. "Is actually kinda surpising. Well… what Japan, you used to living here yet?"

"_That's gonna-_" I noticed that once again, I screwed up talking! God, people are gonna think I'm illiterate soon! Well at least illiterate in Japanese… I hope. "That's gonna take just a little more time."

"Well I figured that," Yosuke laughed as Yu just nodded. "You have to speak a whole new language, that and cultural differences! Well , anyway! Oh, you guys know about the local delicacy?"

"It's not drugs right?" I interrupted Yosuke's speech to crack, no pun intended, actually, yeah pun totally intended! A joke that he took a little too literal.

"D-dude!?" Yosuke and Yu looked surprised. "What the hell! You don't just say something like that in public!"

"So," I slammed my hand into my forehead for the second time today, PERSONAL BEST ACHIEVED! "Dude, it was a joke! Well half joke, if you run me over again, you and me both are gonna need pain killers!"

"W-well," Yosuke suddenly remembered what he was talking about. "Oh, yeah the delicacy is steak!" My head shot straight up, I mean come on; when you live in Iowa you learn to love steak and love it fast! Or at least I did meh who knows?

"Yosuke," He quickly looked at me again. "If it is cheap and still safe to eat, just point me in the right direction!"

"Haha," Yosuke smiled now knowing I wasn't making another drug joke. God you make one joke and suddenly you're a rumored as the school pothead; I knew people who used that crap, every one of them is now in Juvenile Detention (thanks to me!). Well that's beside the point. "I know a place where you can get cheap."

"Again," I once again interrupted him. "Point. Right. Direction. Now!"

Yu and Yosuke laughed at me. I was really starting to fit in at school in less than two days… wait, strike that! Two days flat! "You guys wanna come? You two helped me out this morning, so it's on me. It's gonna be scraping the bottom of my wallet, but, what the hell!"

Chie casually walked over to the three of us, now I had to think. _Why the hell is everyone surrounding my desk? I'm gonna become claustrophobic! _ "What about me, huh? No apologies? My _Trial of the Dragon._"

I smiled and looked back at Yosuke hoping to god that this was karma for running my ass over with his bike so many times! Even if it wasn't, it was sure to an entertaining day that much was for sure. Yosuke seemed to disagree with me. "Urgh… You always come around when I'm talking about food…"

Chie either didn't hear Yosuke or decided that she didn't care what he had said, which was apparent as she turned to Yukiko. "How about it, Yukiko? Don't you think he should treat us, too?"

"You guys?" I interrupted Yukiko before she even got a word in edge wise. "He should be treating me for at least five steaks! And before you groan Yosuke, let me remind you, paying. Medical. Bills and Pain. Killers!"

"I'll pass…" Yukiko gathered up her stuff. "I don't want to gain any more weight. I need to help out at the inn today, anyway."

I shrugged, usually for me it was the more the merrier. Oh well, though I did almost feel bad for basically stealing Yosuke's money; almost! Chie also seemed disappointed that friend couldn't join in making Yosuke pay for food for the four of us… wait now three of us. Yosuke ignored that part of it all and dove straight for thin ice, I mean this subject, I could at least tell, was not Yukiko's favorite; in this metaphor I envisioned me standing in front of a big neon sign pointing at a pond of ice which said _Thin Ice! Idiots we are talking to you!_ Yet Yosuke cannonballed into it. "Wow, Yukiko-san! You started training to take over the business?"

"It's not like that!" Yukiko tried to argue, yet I sat there doing a fist pump that no one seemed to notice. "I'm just helping out when it gets busy. Well, I should be on my way."

Yu and me both nodded in her direction to say goodbye as she walked out of the room. Chie took her chance to deliver the killing blow to Yosuke at this point in time. "Oh well. We should get going too."

Yosuke jumped back in fear for his wallet at her comment. "Huh? Do I seriously have to treat three people…?"

"Hell yes!" I looked Yosuke in the eyes now. "I wants my steak now! Or again, medical bills and pain killers!"

* * *

Time- WAIT… Location Change: Yasogami High to Junes

(that could have been embarrassing!)

Chie was mad as Yosuke came back with a tray of food and drinks, I had no idea why until she started her rant. "THIS is the cheap place you were talking about…? They don't have grilled steak here."

My eyes widened as the words left her mouth. "NO STEAK! DUDE WHAT THE HELL!"

"Hey!" Yosuke yelled at us to start his counter argument as he set the tray down. "When Chie jumped on the free loader train, I had to change plans! Oh yeah Kreed, I had no idea what you wanted to drink so I got you a fruit milk."

My eyes once again widened, only this time in fear! "What is a fruit milk, is it a type of-"

Yosuke quickly cut me off, before I finished my sentence. "NO it is not a type of drug, it is a soda!"

Chie sighed in disappointment at the food placed before her. "Still, no reason to take us to your place."

I raised an eyebrow at Chie and Yosuke for a moment, what did she mean by his place? Yosuke surprised me when he calmly answered the question. "Dude, this isn't my place or anything."

Now I was even more confused, I wished for some heavenly miracle to explain what the fuck was going on! "Oh, right. I haven't told you guys yet, huh? I moved here from another city about six months back."

"Yet another lone city boy lost in the world." I mused aloud at Yosuke in a joking manner, it got a chuckle out of Yu and Chie, so Yosuke zero, me one! And Logic one, me three. Why do I count that as a point for me. Who cares, I want to win against logic!

"Dude," Yosuke gave me a weird look because of my comment "what are you talking about!"

"Dude," I responded in the same tone as Yosuke. "Let a guy be insane if he wants to be insane!"

"Well," Yosuke sighed. "Whatever. Anyway, this location of Junes just opened up, and my dad was assigned to manage it. So our entire family came out here. Here, this is to welcome you two to town!"

"You still owe me a steak!" I growled at Yosuke in a jokingly manner.

"Would you shut up about the steak already!" Yosuke grumbled at me under his breath. He quickly cheered up as he looked over at a girl at the other end of the outside food court. Yu started to laugh brightly at Yosuke's, well not really an outburst. Chie glared at Yosuke as well.

"I'm with Kreed on this one!" Chie grumbled. "Anyway, it's only been half a year since this place opened up, but I haven't been to the local shopping district much since. A lot of stores there started closing, and… Oh, uh…"

Yosuke sighed and suddenly seemed a little sad. "You can't blame it all on Junes can you?"

Well statically, if a mall opens up, other shops lose convenience and there for customers, but I was not about to say that out loud! Only because I thought I gave Yosuke enough shit for the day. He was an okay guy in my book. Yosuke's depressing mood quickly vanished as he saw a girl at the other end of the food court. "Hey… It's Saki-senpai!"

He practically jumped to his feet and casually walked over to the girl. Me and Yu looked at each other for a moment before turning to Chie. Yu nodded at the girl. "Who's that his girlfriend."

Chie got a good laugh out of the words that came out of Yu's mouth. "He wishes! That's Saki Konishi. Her family runs a liquor store in the shopping district."

I finally took a drink of my soda and actually enjoyed the thing, it was watermelon flavored! I always thought that should have been a thing in the states, but I digress, I did a spit take. "Liquor store!"

"Yeah." Chie nodded like it was a normal thing. "I think she's working her part time though."

I quickly noticed the two returning to the table we were sitting at. Saki was smiling at us from some odd reason, I mean this was coming from the guy who called himself insane and wore a beanie with his school uniform. I had I not gotten in trouble for that!? Well anyway, Saki and Yosuke made it back to our table and Saki walked over to Yu. "Are you the transfer student?"

"What am I," I spoke up next to Yu. "Cat nip you just gave to a dog! Wait, crap that does sound better with chopped liver, damnit!"

That time everyone laughed including me. I was joking, but still I always tried to joke around. "I'm sorry, I didn't know that there was another transfer student."

I just shrugged my shoulders; I really didn't care to be honest, unless of course people started bitching at me. Which, here, it was probably unlikely, oh well still. "Oh, did you guys hear about me already?"

"Kinda." Me and Yu both spoke up in unison. Which didn't really surprise me one bit, still I had to do it. "Jinks, ya owe me a soda!"

Yu cursed under his breath for me getting the jump on him. Saki laughed a bit before she continued to talk. "It must be to have someone else from the big city to talk to, or in your case, just a transfer student, huh?"

"Hey, if that's all I wanted, I would just talk to Narukami here." I smirked as I finished my sentence, Saki smiled and continued her speech to us.

"I don't see Hana-chan hanging out with the other guys much." Saki comment on Yosuke didn't go unnoticed by him, and within a few seconds responded to her faster than I thought humanly possible.

"Not necessarily…" I could have smelt Yosuke's bullshit from a mile away at this point. Come on just admit it, no one, except maybe me, would have made fun of him for it.

"He doesn't have too many friends," Saki started to seem like she was just bagging on him now. "So I hope you three get along good."

"Sorry," I pointed a finger at Saki for a moment to help get her attention. "But get along well is the correct way to say it!"

Saki rolled her eyes now, maybe she was annoyed, maybe she found the joke just to be stupid, still she continued. "Hana-chan's a good guy, but he can get nosy sometimes. You gotta tell him right to his face when he starts to annoy you."

"Really," I developed another evil grin on my face. "Hey Yosuke, you suck at riding a bike and it is annoying, plus I don't think my back can take another hit from your bike!"

"Ha ha." Yosuke rolled his eyes at me again, I knew the whole bike thing was getting annoying, but I did not simply give a rat's ass!

"All joking aside," I picked back up where I left off. "He's okay, no really complaints other than your driving abilities!"

"I know," Saki laughed for a moment. "I was just kidding. Well, my breaks just about over. Back to work I go… Laters"

And with that Saki walked away from the table leaving the four of us once again. I thought it was going to be awkward after she left until Yosuke started joking around again. "Saki-senpai says I'm annoying, but she's even nosier than me."

"She does seem like that kind of girl." I grinned at Yosuke for a moment. "I mean, she just seemed open to talk about a lot of stuff, hell even gossiping!"

"I guess she does," Chie finally spoke up again. "Well now that I think about it."

Yosuke laughed which in turned caused all to laugh, breaking the tension that Saki had left. "She has a younger, brother and she treats me pretty much the same way…"

Yosuke had crossed the line of no return with one statement, so, I jumped on it. "Oh! I get it, Yosuke you dog! I had no idea you were into that kinda thing!"

Chie laughed at my joke and Yu grinned, Yosuke just shook his head. Chie soon followed in making fun of Yosuke. "Well, it does seem like he wants this to be the flame of a forbidden love."

"Now you guys are worrying me!" Yosuke shook his head some more, his cheeks also got a little red as me and Chie laughed slightly. "And besides, it's not like that!"

"Oh reaaaally…" Chie really didn't need to drag out the really. "Well, I know just the thing to cheer up that lovesick heart. You ever hear of the Midnight Channel?"

"_Midn-_Midnight what?" I stuttered for a moment, what the hell was the Midnight Channel?

"The Midnight Channel," Chie's smile widened as she began explaining. "They say that if you stare into a turned off TV at midnight on a rainy night, the TV will come on and someone will show up on screen. They saw that person is your soul mate!"

"Yeah," I sighed at this rumor, knowing it was just that, a rumor. "We have something like that in the states, it's called Bloody Mary, and it doesn't work; I know I've tried!"

"I agree," Yosuke nodded at me. "For a second, I thought you were actually going to say something useful Chie. How can you get excited over such a childish urban legend like that?"

"Childish, huh?" Once again Yosuke dove straight into the thin ice. "You don't believe it, do you!?"

"I think I speak for all three of us when I say this," I took a deep breath and looked Chie straight in the eyes. "Hell no."

"Fine then," Chie almost yelled at me for this. "Well, it's raining tonight! Let's all try it out—then you'll see!"

Oh my god she hasn't even tried it, this sounded so stupid at the time that I was will to do it, just to say that it was another urban legend that I had concurred. Yosuke knew this sounded dumb and vocalized it. "Wait, you mean you haven't even tried it yourself!? Man I remember the last time I heard something this stupid… All that aside… you know that 'incident' yesterday? You guys think it was murder?"

"No," I layered my voice with sarcasm at this point. "The body descided that after the person randomly died for an unknown reason that it would climb up a TV antenna! Man, a lot of people are talking about that thought."

"I know what you mean." Yosuke sighed, it seemed like everyone we passed on our way to Junes was talking about the announcer's death, which was the only reason I had any sort of info on the subject. Yet Yosuke suddenly developed an evil smile. "Ooh, what if the culprit behind it was still lurking around…? Heehee…"

"Sheesh," Chie leaned back in her chair after Yosuke made his joke. "You shouldn't joke about stuff like that. Now who's the childish one…?"

Oh how I couldn't wait to see if Yosuke took that bait on this one. Yet Chie didn't give him the time too, only because she dove back into her topic about the Midnight Channel. Still making her look like the childish one at the table. "All I am saying is, you guys better try it out tonight."

"Fine," I sighed, even though I planned on doing it anyway, still you never know. "You have my word Miss Sotanaka! Well I'd hate to be a party pooper, but, I'm going head over to the music store and then head home. Later guys."

Yu nodded in agreement and stood up to leave as well. "See you guys tomorrow."

"Yeah bye!" Yosuke sighed as he and Yu both walked away, leaving just Chie and me alone.

"You gonna head home too?" I titled my head wait for Chie's response.

"Not really," She sighed at me and then titled her head. "Hey is it alright if I hang out with you until you leave?"

I shrugged a bit; I mean I had no problem with it. Plus I didn't want to end up like Yosuke yesterday, that girl had one hell of a kick. "Sure, I don't mind."

"Thanks," Chie started to smile brightly at me. "By the way, what are you looking for at the music store?"

"The new AKG CD," I stated as a matter of fact, rather than just telling her. She titled her head in confusion; she really had no idea who I was talking about. "Asian Kung-Fu Generation!"

Suddenly her eyes widened as she brought her hand up to her face for a moment. She really didn't feel all that smart at the moment. She did listen to a few of their song, but no one ever called the band AKG around her. So she had no idea what that meant. "Hey, what's your favorite song by them?"

I had to think along and hard about that question, because there wasn't much that I didn't like by AKG. So after a good three minutes or so I finally made a decision. "_Flashback_."

"Which one is that?"

I smiled evilly now; oh I was so waiting for this opportunity to make an ass out of myself, but again, INSANE! I started to sing the whole two minute song right there in the middle of the Junes food court. As I sang the song, I slowly realized that Chie was singing with me now. After words we continued with small talk about school as we headed to the music store. We didn't say or do anything important the rest of our time at Junes.

* * *

Time Change: After School to Evening: Just before Midnight

The time was 11:59 and there I was sitting in front of a blank TV screen waiting for nothing to happen the moment the clock struck twelve. While I sat there, I started thinking about my new friends and how much fun I was actually having. Yu barely spoke at all, but still, for some reason you just wanted to talk to him. Yosuke could be annoying, and then again I guess most best friends are at some times. Finally Chie, Chie was fun to be around; I was actually having the most fun with her for some reason. She was obsessed with kung-Fu movies, which was a little weird; then again I guess I just didn't like them that much. She loved steak, but so did I so no complaints. Just before the clock changed I noticed I was thinking about Chie a lot at that moment so I just laughed it off, I mean, yeah she was a friend, but we barely knew each other, oh well.

That's when it became midnight and suddenly the TV in my living room suddenly flickered on and slowly showed up on static, but I could see a few frames of a brunette girl in a school uniform flickering in and out of the screen. Yet I was not really paying attention to that, I was of course, like any normal human being…. FREAKING OUT! I mean HOLY SHIT THIS WAS ACTUALLY HAPPENING, WHAT IN GOD'S NAME WAS GOING ON! I was so scared shit less that I crawled onto the back edge of my couch, and well… fell off of it backwards. "_SON OF A BITCH! WHAT JUST FUCKING HAPPENED!?"_

I thought that I had either, one, been killed by Bloody Mary or two, had lost my god damned mind! I couldn't actually believe that just happened. Yet as I jumped back up to my feet, the TV was off again. I just stood there for a few minutes, gawking, until exhaustion set in. Even though I was so surprised that the Midnight Channel was real, I was so tired that I almost fell asleep standing up. So as I went to sleep, I knew this was going to turn into a real midnight problem…

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTES: Chapter 2 is up, that took some time, but hell who needs sleep right? I am going to try and update as much as possible. Please continue to give me your feed back it is very much appresatied, also sorry if anything seems rushed. If I rush it much please tell me and I will take more time in making the chapters then, so until then HOPE YOU ENJOYED P4G:DDMP SO FAR AND FAR MUCH MORE TO COME IN THE FUTURE!**


	3. Chapter 3: Just a Normal Day inside a TV

_**Disclamer I do not own any**__**thing in this story but **_

_**any OC's that I put in here. Enjoy chapter 3!**_

* * *

April 14, 2011

Forecast… Rain all day

On my way to school I was still freaking out over the previous night. Now I was looking over my shoulder to make sure that Bloody Mary wasn't following me! After last night I was scared that Slenderman would jump out of my shadow. Still highly unlikely, but when you witness something like the Midnight Channel for the first time, you are FREAKING OUT for some time. It also didn't help that I had trouble sleeping after the events of last night; the world could have been a game or story for all I knew now!

Anyway back on track here; so as I was yawning I bumped into someone, not enough to hurt, but enough to make us bounce back a few steps. I also dropped my umbrella; the rain hitting was coming down hard today. "Crap, sorry! Huh, oh! Hey Yu!"

Yu looked back at me as I recollected my umbrella and smiled. "Morning, hey did you-"

"OH THAT GOD I'M NOT CRAZY!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. "What the fuck was that man, dude now I'm scared that Bloody Mary is gonna grab me from around any corner!"

"I still think you're safe form that one," Yu smirked at me. "Still I was surprised that actually worked, but there was something else I need to tell you abo-"

Yu was interrupted a familiar person running up to us and hiding under my umbrella with me. Chie's face turned red as she had to stand incredibly close to me. "Sorry, I was running late! Do you mind if I walk with you guys for now?"

My face was also turning a little red. "Sure, but don't you think people will make assumptions?"

"Who cares," Chie sighed, she really didn't want to be wet all day at school. "It's a down pour out! Though I did see this kung-fu movie where they used an umbrella to pull off some sweet moves…"

"You broke the umbrella," I sighed, but smiled. So what, I wasn't the only weird person in the house! It was a good feeling knowing that. "Didn't you?"

"N-not on purpose!" Yu and me started to laugh at her, well with her. "Really! I just wanted to try out a few of the moves!"

"It's fine Chie," I looked started walking with her trying to keep up with my pace. "When I was little I loved Star Wars to the point I pretended I had a light saber, I actually got pretty good with two. Not that's important now, but still!"

"Wait," Chie looked at me with glee in her expression. "You did the same thing I do!"

"When I was five," I grinned evilly at her and the whispered in her ear. "I still do it sometimes though."

Chie smiled brightly at me as all three of us walked to school, I almost forgot about the Midnight Channel completely, until Chie started talking… "By the way… did you see it?"

"Thank god!" Yu and me both sighed with relief. "Another person to guaranty my sanity… Wait! Too late!"

"Aha," The glee in Chie's face had since turned into shock and wonder. "So you guys both saw it! So, what did you guys see? The person it showed for me… um…"

"Who did you see?" I once again showed my evil grin. "It wasn't one of us was it?"

"NO!" Chie sighed. "Never mind. I'll save it for when Yosuke is with us. Let's keep going."

We kept walking to school for a bit, there was a very thick tension now hanging over all of us. I started humming a tone for a bit, because, I could not stand silence, even with the rain falling I thought it was so freaking awkward! GAH, I wanted someone to say something DAMNIT! Finally Chie answered my prays. "Oh… U-uhh… I-it's kinda awkward to only bring this up now, but… we're pretty close here…"

"So," I sighed, but still I was kinda interested in what she had to say. "I kinda wanna know what you saw now!"

"I-I'll tell you later." I shrugged, I could wait, and besides she seemed upset about it. She sighed, I didn't want force her to talk about it. "Am I worrying too much?"

"I don't think so," I looked a head as we kept walking to school. "I mean we just saw something, which scared the crap out of me, the dude who did Bloody Mary! It's okay to worry about this."

Yu nodded in agreement, Chie smiled brightly at us again. "Thanks guys, I-I'll keep going with you guys anyway. Alright, let's go."

* * *

Time Change: Early Morning to Morning

I was so confused in the class today, first, no King Moron; HELL YEAH! But I didn't know that the teachers switched rooms and not the other way around. Second, what the hell was up with the history teacher!? She was in a head dress that you would have seen Cleo Petra wear, she help a tool of a pharaoh too. I heard the words coming out of her mouth, just not what they meant, only because it was so weird! I just sat there with my mouth gawked, I didn't even try to put my i-pod in, Chie noticed this and poked my shoulder to gain my attention. "That's Ms. Kimiko Sofue, she always dresses like this."

"Wait always!?" I just shook my head in disbelief, man, if my dad saw her; I would be back in the states in no time. Until he meets King Moron, god never let that happen. "Well now that I know a little more, what the hell is she talking about?"

"Something about rivers and civiliations." Chie winced, I realized, she had no idea what was happening.

"Mr. Richards," I heard my name being called and I quickly looked at the teacher. "Please stand up. The western calendar is based on Anno Domini, the traditionally believed year of Jesus Christ's birth. What is the year before 1 AD called?"

My jaw dropped at how easy the question was, how was, everyone should have already known this. It was grade school easy; well it was for someone who's for favorite childhood movie was _Walking with Dinosaurs_! "One BC, of course."

"Ah," Ms. Sofue smiled gently as the answer left my mouth, already I liked her more than King Moron! "You seem to have a good understanding of this Mr. Richards."

I sat down and smiled, until Yosuke leaned forward and whispered in my ear. "How did you know that, I thought it was zero AD."

"Jesus Christ Yosuke!" I whispered just loud enough for only him and Chie to hear. "I learned that when I was in grade school!"

"Holy crap!" Yosuke's voice was layered with surprise. "How?"

"I watched a lot of documentaries," It was half-truth; the only one I ever watched was _Walking with Dinosaurs_. "Now shut up so we don't get in trouble!"

"Wait what type of documentaries?"

"Goddamnit Yosuke!"

* * *

Time Change: Morning to After School

"What's up with the body being hung upside-down?" I was really getting tired of hearing dead body that, murder this! Come on people, I know that it is horrible that someone died, but god! They made it seem like every one famous in the world of movies had gathered into a room and gassed! Even though celebrity gossip just pissed me off more than this! "That's so freaky!"

"Gah," I took my glasses off and once again started hitting my head against my desk again. "Shit up, shit up, shut up!"

"Is it supposed to be like," Of course the two girls to my right just wouldn't shut up about the murder or accident or whatever the hell it was! "Mimicking an execution? It's messed up…"

"There are not shutting up!" I kept banging my head against my desk until I heard a familiar voice from behind me.

"Y-yo, Kreed. Um…" It was Yosuke, and like in class today, he sound like he had no idea what was going on. Well it might be normal for him who knew?

"Let me guess you say saw it too?" I quickly spoke up as a removed my head from its spot on the desk and put my glass back on. Yosuke cringed back in fear for a moment, before looking at the ground and nodding his head confirming my guess as fact. "Welcome to the club of most likely mentally insane people who saw the rumored Midnight Channel last night; current members including you are now four. For seeing the Midnight Channel, you get a free member ship pass to solitary confinement."

"Any membership rewards?" Yu played along with my brightly developed joke, which I had made up on the spot.

"Yeah," I laughed as Yu played along with my joke. "Free therapy after four to five years!"

"Sign me up!" Even Yosuke chuckled at our combined efforts to make the joke as long as possible!

"Yosuke," Enter Chie stage right and again everyone was crowding around my desk! SERIOUSLY CLAUSTORPHOBIA! I wouldn't have been surprised if I had it by this point. "Did you hear the rumor?"

"NO!" I point my index finger at Chie. "No more rumors! I just lost ten years off my life because of the last one!"

"Wha-" Chie gave me the weirdest look I have ever seen since I- well never mind King Moron's teeth beat this. "Oh, oh! Well this isn't anything like that! The rumor is that it was Saki who found the announcers body!"

Yosuke once again looked towards the ground. "I wonder if that's why she looked so down… She doesn't seem to be at school today either."

"Well," I closed my eyes and wrapped my hand around my chin to give me the appearance of deep thought. "If I personally found a dead body, I would one freak out, two run to the cops, and three, not show my face until the whole ordeal is settled for fear of the mafia, or murderer who had killed the person."

Just before anyone could react to my joke, well Yosuke seemed to take it a little personal; so thank you Yukiko for getting up to leave once again, Chie of course Chie took note of. "Huh? Hey Yukiko, are you helping out at the inn today too?"

"Things are really out of hand right now…" Yukiko sighed as she looked at Chie with sad eyes. Holy crap, I mean I thought it was stressful when I had to help around my house, but Yukiko had to help visitors every night! God I would have been crazy by now, well crazier than I am now. Still, you gotta do what you gotta do to help. "I'm sorry."

"Is it just me, or does Yukiko-san seem way stressed out today?" Oh Yosuke, so oblivious to the world around you. It almost hurt me physically.

"I guess they're running her ragged…" Chie too!? God, this was the point where I once again removed my glasses and started to repeatedly slam my into the desk… AGAIN!

"_Ladies and gentlemen, my friends!_" I sighed as I stopped damaging my brain cells. "Can we get on a relative topic that has to do with all of us being out of our fucking minds!?"

"What?" Yosuke and Chie looked at like I was crazy, which was really close, but still.

"Midnight Channel ring a bell?" I sighed leaning my head back far enough I could see over Yosuke's desk. "Cause I don't know about you guys, but I'd rather not be mentally insane, I would not be able to stand how quiet those mental institutes are."

"Oh! I was just about to ask you guys about that!" Chie quickly turned so she could she all three of us. "So, did you see… it…. Last night?"

Yosuke was so hesitant to answer the question; I almost thought that he saw Saki on the Midnight Channel. Yet like Chie said yesterday, "he wishes!"

"Uh, well…. What about you?"

"I did! I seriously saw a girl!" My head shot straight up at what Chie just said. I thought I was hearing things for second, what the fuck kind of fucked up thing was the Midnight Channel? God, I was scared to know the answer, but still who gave a fuck, the conversation just got interesting! "But… my soulmate's a girl? What's that supposed to mean?"

I couldn't help it at this point; I burst out laughing, I was laughing so hard that you think that I had gotten front row seats to a comedian and he had just told us the greatest joke in the world! "I-I-I'm s-s-sorry, but that i-i-is pret-t-tty obvious to me!"

That comment of course got me a one way ticket for a kick to the shin. GOD I KNEW SHE HAD ONE HELL OF A KICK! "_Son of a fucking BITCH!_ God that hurt!"

"You deserve it! Gosh, still I couldn't quite tell who it was, but it was a girl for sure… Her hair was brown, about shoulder length. She was wearing our school uniform, and…" Yosuke quickly interrupted Chie was surprise and shock in his voice, hell I was shocked, did we all see the same thing.

"Hey… I think that's the same person I saw. I couldn't make out that much detail, thought. The image I saw was much blurrier…"

I sighed and raised my hand. "Everyone who saw that raise their hands, all four of us good! Guess what guys, we all get to share!"

"W-what!?" Chie jumped back after hearing my comment and kicked my other shin. Damnit this girl was going to kill me one bone at a time. Yu suddenly looked nervous now, what was he worried he was gonna get the galactic punt from Chie too?

"Um," Yu spoke up now, I thought it was a god damned miracle that he was talking without someone asking him something first! "There was a little more in my case."

All three of us stared at Yu for a moment. "What do you mean?"

"W-well, I heard this weird voice for a moment, I can't really remember what it said, but after it stopped talking my TV was turned off. So I tapped the screen and it shimmered for a second; it kinda scared me, but I stuck my whole hand into my TV and it started to suck me in! It would have too, if not for my TV being too small…"

We all looked at Yu like he was on drugs. That was the weirdest thing I have ever heard before in my entire life! Yosuke and Chie did not believe him for a second, yet logic said that Yu was insane, so I went against logic. Yosuke spoke his mind first. "Weird voices aside, what was that about getting sucked into your TV…? Were you that tired last night? You must've just fallen asleep in front of your TV."

"What?" Yu was absolutely shocked that Yosuke didn't believe him! "No, I woke Nanako up with the noise I made!"

Now Chie added her two cents to the side of you logic. "That'd be one interesting dream, though. I like the part where you got stuck 'cause your TV was too small. That's pretty realistic."

Yu through his hands up as thought to say 'I give up!' Yet I couldn't let my best friend so far just suffer. "I believe him."

All three of them looked at me with shock, Yosuke just looked dumbfounded. "W-what!? There is no way- What makes you even think that story could be true!?"

"Because logic says it can't be."

"It sounds like something from a Sci-fi movie!"

"Exactly!" I pointed my finger straight up into the air. "And fact is stranger than fiction my ignorant friend Yosuke!"

Everyone just looked at me still, I just shrugged and left it alone after that. Chie shook her head and suddenly looked like she just found out the meaning of life, which I personally thought was… you know what never mind, we'll get to that later. "Ohhh, this reminds me. Our family's been talking about buying a bigger TV."

"Oh yeah?" Yosuke had made the transformation into a sales man at that point. The two had given up on trying to make sense of Yu's story now. "Well flatscreen TVs are definitely in these days. Wanna go check 'em out on the way back? We're beefing up our electronics department this month."

I jumped to my feet and headed for the door. Chie looked worried for a moment. "H-hey where are you going?"

"To the Junes electronics department, you guys coming or not?"

* * *

Junes

"Wow, this is huge! And… Holy crap, it's expensive! Who buys something like this?"

We were all in front of the most expensive TV I have ever seen in my life, then again it was in yen, but still way too much for what my parents would let me buy! Yosuke was showing us all the TVs Junes had in stock and Chie freaked out when she saw the prices more than at the sizes! Yosuke still being none the wiser just shrugged. "I dunno… Rich folks?"

"Nooooo," I slathered on the sarcasm. "I thought it was homeless people!"

"Hey," Yosuke started to get irritated with my heavy sarcasm now. "Don't get snippy with me man! Honestly though, not many people shop for TVs here. That's why we don't have clerks around."

"Huh," Chie seemed kinda seemed disappointed by the fact that she couldn't afford any of the TVs. "Not worth trying, well at least looking's free!"

I just shrugged, I kinda wanted Yu just to jump into the TV and disappear through the screen, just too show logic that it was still wrong! Yet he just stood there looking at the TVs with Yosuke and Chie. It wasn't that I wasn't having any fun, I just wanted to see if I was right and that if Yu was telling the truth. After all… he seemed to be a more, um… reliable source of information than Chie. Not that I was insulting her, o god no! Just, I still couldn't believe that she didn't try out the Midnight Channel before telling us about it! Anyway, Yosuke and Chie looked at each other and walked up to the flatscreen that was smack dab in the middle of the wall, and started touching the screen. God now they were just insulting Yu! Yosuke put his two cents in the "insulting Yu Narukami machine first. "Nope, can't get in. Figures."

Chie chuckled slightly. "This proves it. It was all just a dream."

I just sighed and pulled out my i-pod flipping through all of my songs. I really wasn't in the mood to choose from over four hundred some songs, so I just put the thing on random as Yosuke finished with his turn using the "insult Yu Narukami" machine. "Besides, these flatscreen TVs are so thin you'd just end up on the other side…"

With that my i-pod started blasting Skrillex in my ears so I really couldn't hear the next few sentences. Yosuke and Chie walked over to another TV, probably so she could find a cheap model. Yu just stood there staring at the TV for a good minute or two. Finally he walked up to the screen and slowly reached his hand out to the screen, was watching him with curiosity, I mean what if he really did start going into the- too late to think about it! Yu stuck his hand onto the screen and for a second it did nothing, but then the TV gave way as his hand phased into the screen. My jaw and i-pod dropped, the earbuds being pulled out. I was so shocked that it really worked, then it hit me. "TAKE THAT LOGIC!"

I screamed at the top of my lungs making Chie and Yosuke look over at us, yet before everything got crazy, I grabbed my i-pod off the ground. "I-is his arm… in the TV…?"

"Whoa…" Now they believe him, yet I was too busy doing the dumbest looking dance you can image behind Yu, I was way too happy that I was right! "Uhhh… Is that some kinda… new model? L-like with a new function?"

"Hell no!" They both ran over to Yu as I was still making an ass of myself, but I quickly snapped out of it, because, well my best friend had a hand sticking out of a TV, so of course I ran to his aid for this. Well I guess aid isn't the right word, but still! Chie was the first to express her new found confusion to Yu.

"You gotta be kidding me… Did you really stick your hand through the screen?"

Then Yosuke. "Oh man… This is for real… That's some magic trick, man! So how's it work huh!? What's the magician's secret!?" Yu just shrugged at Yosuke, which freaked him out even more.

I had a thought, but in this state of mind my thoughts didn't stay thoughts long. "If he can fit his whole hand, maybe he can fit even more in?"

Yeah, everything that happened next was kinda my fault with that one sentence, god I was a dumbass! Um… don't quote me on that! Anyway! Yu pulled his arm out, much to our relief only to climb on the display stand and stick his entire head into the TV, much to our immediate fear! "DUDE I WAS JOKING!"

"There's an empty space inside…" Yu spoke threw the TV, again to our immediate fear! Yosuke winced back at the comment thought.

"Wh-what do you mean," Yosuke was freaking out more than me and Chie at this point. "'Inside!?'"

"Well what the hell do you think he means dumbass!" I couldn't control the words coming out of my mouth now.

"It seems very spacious in here…" At this point I gave up on all hope, I couldn't stand it anymore.

"That's it!" I turned to Yosuke and Chie. "Grab 'im! We are gonna pull this idiot out of the damn TV before he breaks it, and we all end up paying for it!"

"Holy crap…" Yosuke started hoping from foot to foot like he was going to pi- "I-I think this is all too much for my bladder…"

That, that is what it looked like he was going to do! Chie was very much disgusted by Yosuke to even try and grab one of Yu's legs, so I igorned them for a moment and grabbed Yu by his torso. Yet for some unknown reason, and just my damned luck! He wouldn't budge! "What the-? Are you gonna pee yourpants!?"

"No," I was irriated that everyone forgot about Yu for the time being. "He's gonna vomit rainbows with a pot of gold coming out of his ass, Chie JUST HELP FOR NOW!"

Chie shook her head and turned to see me pulling at Yu. "Oh crap!" She started to help me pull at his torso. Yosuke had run off to relieve himself; only to run back five fucking seconds later!

"Shit! Customers!" Me and Chie both snapped our heads at Yosuke now. This was the worst case scenario! Unless if we could pass it off as a 3D TV, which was unlikely… "They're coming!"

"What!?" Chie let go of Yu at this exact moment to freak out even more. Yet how the hell was I this calm you ask? I honestly have no fucking clue, that's how. "But we've got a guy half stuck in the TV here!"

Both of them were at their breaking points now, Yosuke and Chie started running around a small area near us. "CALM DOWN AND HELP ME HERE!"

They both looked at me and ran to help Yu out of the TV, only to run into each other and knock all four of us into the TV!

* * *

All of us yelled and screamed as we fell through a weird vortex that looked like the outline of spinning TV frames, it felt like minutes before we finally saw the ground. There was a ruff landing for all of us. Yet I landed on my feet only to twist my ankle in a must unnatural fashion and fall straight into a metal bar. "_FUUUUCK!"_

"Ow!" I heard Yosuke, but was having trouble seeing. I reached up to my face to find that I head lost my glasses in the fall not only that, but I could back out a thick fog covering the area, giving it a yellowish tint. "I landed on my wallet."

"What is this place?" Chie voiced her confusion just before I got the chance to voice mine. "Is there a place like this in Junes?"

"Hell no it isn't!" Yosuke responded to the question quite calmly. "I mean we fell through a TV! Actually what is going on here?"

I could hear the three of them start shuffling around. I tried to get to my feet only to fall straight to the ground after feeling a great amount of pain in my head, chest, and right ankle. "_GOD DAMNIT THAT HURTS!_"

Chie quickly spun on her feet to see me lying on the ground withering in pain. "Kreed!"

She ran to my side quickly turning me onto my back, yet trying to be as gentle as possible. "Are you okay!?"

"Other than I think I twisted my ankle and the ringing in my skull?" I smiled trying to make a joke out of my pain; yet trying to laugh hurt my chest and skull. "I'm doing just fine! Give me a few minutes and I should be able to walk again. By the way, has anyone seen my glasses?"

Yosuke started to walk over to me, only to hear the breaking and crunching of glass under if foot. "Yosuke?"

"Yeah Kreed."

"Was that my glasses?"

"Y-yeah."

"MEDICAL BILLS, PAIN KILLERS, PLUS NEW GLASS NOW!"

Chie started to shake a little as she sat next to me, so I tried to sit up, which thank god; I could still do! "So… uh… we're still alive… Right?"

Yu looked around and then looked at all three of us. "Are you guys alright?"

Yosuke nodded to confirm he was fine for the time being. Chie followed in suit, yet I laughed a little feeling the pain. "Well I'm near sighted and without any glasses and I twisted my ankle! But yeah, everyone is still alive."

"Whoa!?" Yosuke suddenly stepped off of my broken glasses as he looked around him.

"Wh-what now!?" Chie sounded like she was on the verge of tears. "Did you wet your pants!?"

"No, stupid!" Yosuke retaliated pretty violently to Chie after her comment. Then again, we were inside a TV, not many people, would blame him. Yet I was not one of those people. "Look around!"

"Dude!" I couldn't see to begin with, this was just insulting, but still! "Don't yell at her, she was just asking a question and trying to lighten the mood!"

"Y-you're right," Yosuke sighed. "Still it looks like some sort of TV studio in here. What is with all this weird fog too?"

"Thanks man," I rolled my eyes. "No sympathy for the blind, I see how it is!"

Chie looked at me with concern in her eyes. "A- are you sure you're alright?"

I just smiled at her, I knew she was even more scared then I was at this moment, so I tried to calm her fears. "Trust me! Is there any reason for a guy like me to lie to you?"

Her look of fear and concern did not subside. "Yes."

"Wow," I tried my best to look offended. "Tuff crowd today."

Yu turned to Yosuke to voice a concern on his mind. "There isn't a place like this in Inaba is there?"

"Hell no…" Yosuke took another look around. "But man… This place is huge…"

Chie turned to Yu, still sitting near me in case something happened. What was the worst that could have happened? I spontaneously combust? Last time I checked that was impossible, but then again, so was falling inside a TV into another world. "What're we gonna do…?"

"Look for a way out!" Yu answered Chie without missing a beat.

Chie nodded for a moment. "G-good idea!"

"Problem," I raised my hand now, and everyone looked at me. "We came from the direction of up."

Everyone knew I was right, they just wanted to get out of here, well so did I; I got a sick feeling starting to develop in the pit of my stomach, I thought it was dread, but I kept a brave face for Chie. Yet she was the first person to freak out now. "H-he's right! I don't see a way in… or out!"

"What? That can't be right! H-how could that be!?" Yosuke started to yell now. Now Chie started going after Yosuke in retaliation.

"I don't know!" Chie's voice sounded strong on top, but I heard the slightest quivering in her voice as she shot to her feet to yell at Yosuke. "Don't ask me! I can't take this anymore!" That's when she broke down, I hated seeing anyone like this, I was at that point way too many times. "I wanna go home!"

She only succeed in pissing Yosuke off by trying to be brave and failing. "Okay… so how!?"

Both Yu and me finally got pissed for them getting pissed at each other. Yet I beat him to the punch. "Yosuke! Shut the hell up and calm down, Chie! It will be fine, maybe there's a door that leads out of here. Let's go look for it."

I tried to stand up again only to grunt in pain and quickly land back on my ass. "Or you guys go look and come back to get me."

Everyone took my advice to heart, yet Chie looked at me with even more concern than before. She bent down and put her head under my right arm. My face became bright red very fast. "W-w-w-what are you doing!?"

"Trying to help you!" Chie's voice was still quivering though. "I'm not leaving you behind here!"

God I was embarrassed now, not because it was a bad thing, just it was a little awkward; all I did was twist my ankle. Yet here Chie was trying to help poor old injured me. So I let her lift me up off the ground.

"Thanks…"

"If there's no exit," Yosuke sounded calm again, thank the fucking lord! "Then where, screwed, so let's look for a way out."

We all nodded in agreement and set off in a random direction. I was limping for the whole time we walked, which was at least an hour or so, I was always bad at telling time. Finally the scenery started to change; well that's what everyone told me at least, in the fog I could only make out basic shapes. Finally Chie spoke up about the surroundings me squinting to even make out Yosuke and Yu in front of me. "What is this place…? It feels different from where we were before…"

"It looks like we're in some kinda building, but… Damn." I could hear Yosuke's voice now. "This fog's so thick, I can hardly see."

"Can we stop saying see please?" I sighed, I hated not being able to see anything, yet the only reason I wore glasses instead of contacts was because the glasses helped keep my beanie on my head, which, for some reason stayed on during the fall and the hour walk! I loved that hat!

"S-sorry."

"Are you sure we're not wandering farther away?" Chie voiced her concern now. Yu turned back and smiled at us. How could I tell, well basic shapes were cake to make out.

"If we are," Yu wasn't about to say something helpful. "We'll just walk back."

"Not helping Yu!" I sighed as I once again tried to place my foot down so Chie didn't have to carry me. This time I didn't hurt as much, so that was a good thing! "Hey, Chie I can at least limp from now on, so um… you can let go if you want…"

"Sorry."

I did almost trip after a few steps; Chie was able to catch me, before I hit the ground. "Maybe you should stay close to me." I looked her right in her eyes for a few seconds, before looking away, I had no idea why my cheeks where getting red. Yet that is also when I noticed Yu and Yosuke where already gone. "Crap!"

I limped as fast as I could, which surprisingly was like a light sprint for me, still… OKAY! Focus on this part, this is an important part! You paying attention? Good!

As we entered the room the first thing I noticed was a chair and something hanging down from the ceiling. I didn't want to know what the hell they were, nor want to! I heard the sound of a phone being closed. "No service. What a surprise…"

"Can't you guys slow down a little?" Chie complained to the guys as squinted to make out some posters that had the faces cut out. "It's hard enough to see where you're going… Huh? What the..!? It's a dead end! There's no exit!"

"Yet you don't notice the faceless posters?" I spoke loudly so that everyone would notice them, if they haven't already. I mean they were kinda hard to miss. "Or the chair and rope thing, which is never a good combo!"

"This is not good!" Yu whispered to himself, yet it was so fucking QUIET in this world that it was starting to drive me nuts!

"Aargh!" Yosuke ran past me at to the walls, I had no idea what he was doing until I heard to the zipper. _OH! FUCK NO!_ "I can't hold it any longer…"

"DUDE!" I yelled at Yosuke for the pure fact of he was going to piss in public. "FUCK NO! HOLD IT LONGER!"

"Not cool!" Yu shook his head in disappointment at Yosuke. "This is someone's room!"

"Yosuke that is disgusting!" Chie shook her head as well.

"But I gotta let it out before I piss my pants! T-turn around! I can't go if everyone's watching!"

"Not like we want to!" I turned my head away from Yosuke at that moment.

"Gah! I can't do it! It's all your fault if my bladder bursts!"

Chie wanted to barf at this point. "Like we care! C'mon… Let's go back to where we came from and look somewhere else for an exit…"

"Thank Chie!" I threw my hands up into the air. "At least she can stay on track for more than five fucking seconds!"

I limped out of the room to hear Yosuke say something from behind me. "Hey… I think I've seen that poster before…"

"LET'S MOVE!" I yelled at Yosuke so we could all leave. Once again it took about an hour to get back to the, well I guess it was an entrance. We were all exhausted at this point and I felt like I was about to barf up everything I had ever eaten. Chie moaned a bit in pain. "Hey I'm not feeling so good."

"Raise your head if you feel sick," I called out to my friends, all three of them and me raised our hands. "Great! Now we're gonna vomit! WHERE IS THAT DAMNED EXIT!"

That's when we all noticed something nearby us. I could make out a shape of an oval, or was it an egg… I had no clue at this point, nor did I care. Yosuke voiced his fear for a moment. "There's something over there!" Yosuke, Yu, and Chie winced in fear as the thing walked towards us; making a squeaking sound as it walked. From the fog came a very colorful bear mascot. Chie apparently could not tell it was supposed to be a bear though.

"What is this thing? A monkey? A bear…?"

Yosuke soon followed in Chie's confusion. "What in the world…?"

"T-that's what I want to know… Who are you guys!?" Thing growled at Chie, I chuckled at its voice. Wait… IT COULD TALK!?

"Holyshitholyshitholyshit!" I was surprised I didn't slip up and start speaking English again. Seriously, this was so fucked up on so many levels! "IT CAN TALK!?"

"W-what are you!" Chie got into a fighting stance as the bear started to cower in fear of the girl. "Y-you wanna fight!?"

"D-don't yell at me like that…" This was by far the weirdest thing I had ever seen, not only that but…. Blood Mary had nothing on this world! Yu decided to take a diplomatic approach to our current predicament, I on the other hand had no idea what to say.

"What is this place?" The bear calmed down now and answered Yu's question calmly.

"This place is what it is," Great, fucking RIDDLES! I hated riddles because of this day! "It doesn't have a name. I've always lived here by myself."

"Dude slow down!" I held my head with one hand and held my other out to the bear. "You live here? Well do you know a way out!?"

"Yes," The bear seemed friendly enough to me, still I was confused as all heck. "I'll let you guys out, so that you can hurry back. Someone's been throwing people in here. It's a big headache."

"Huh?" Now Yosuke was confused, so two out of four. Let's make it four for four! "Throwing people in? What're you talking about?" The bear suddenly got pissed at Yosuke and stomped his/its/her foot.

"I dunno who's doing it! I just want them to think about it before they going doing something like that!"

Chie then got pissed at the bear for getting pissed, which was confusing, so I counted it. Three for four! "Hey, what's your problem? What gives YOU the right to yell at us like that!?"

The bear ran behind Yosuke and Yu, using Yu as a human shield between him and Chie! I just shrugged and answered for the bear. "Well you did yell at him and all, so an eye for an eye I guess?"

"Y-you guys should hurry back." The bear tried to look brave, but it didn't work when you hide behind someone's leg. Yosuke had apparently forgotten that the bear was gonna let us out, because now he yelled at the bear.

"What it comes down to is, you want us to get outta here, right?" Damnit, still three out of four confused! "Well we don't know how damnit!"

"That's why I said I'd let you out!" the bear was stomping his foot at Yosuke again.

"Like I keeping saying," Okay Yosuke, the first was okay, but now this was just ridiculous! "We don't know where the frickin' exit-! Wait… What?"

The bear tapped his foot twice and three old style TVs appeared out of nowhere. Yu finally looked confused. "Yes! Four out of four!"

Everyone looked me fun and I just whistled when they did. "Where did these TVs come from?" Yu had actually asked a question, holy crap it was the end of the world, which for all we knew it could have been… Yet before anyone cloud give Yu and answer the bear started to push all towards the TVs.

"Okay, now go,go, get outta here! I'm a busy bear!" With that, the huge teddy bear started to push us at the TVs.

"What's going on now!?" Chie was confused as the bear pushed us towards the TVs. "Whoa! Hey, what're you doing!?"

"S-stop pushing!" With Yosuke's final comment, I fell into the TVs and saw the familiar vortex of TV screens, next thing I knew I was looking up at the ceiling of Junes and Chie came flying out of the TV and landed right on top of me.

"_Son of bitch! Why me!?"_ Yu and Yosuke soon followed, we all made it back alive. Chie was the first to question if we were even alive.

"Huh? Is this…?"

"Yep Junes," I poked Chie's arm to get her attention. "Now will you please get off of me?"

"Oh!" Chie jumped to her feet and helped me up. "Sorry! Wait, that means! We made it back!"

Suddenly an announcement came on over the stores PA system. "Attention, shoppers. Our daily limited-time sale will now begin at the side dish area on the first floor."

"Crap!" Yosuke looked at us with shock. "It's already that late!?"

"How late is late?" I questioned Yosuke's comment.

"About eight at night!" Everyone started to dust themselves off, we were alive and we knew it! Now all that was left was to make it home in one piece! Suddenly Yosuke seemed like he was hit with a bolt of inspiration. "Guys! I remember where I saw that poster before… Look over there! That's the poster we saw!"

Sure enough there was a post of the singer who was on the news when I first got to Japan was on the poster. Chie and Yu seemed just as shocked, I was just trying to make the details to make sure I wasn't insane. Chie voiced her surprise first. "Hey, you're right, they're the same. I couldn't tell before without the face, but it was Misuzu Hiiragi… She's been all over then news lately."

"Wait," I suddenly spoke up and made Chie jump. "Her husband had that affair with the announcer who just dead, right? So was that room back there connected to the announcer's death?"

"Yaaargh," We looked at Yosuke now in fear that he was about to explode. Though to be honest, wouldn't be the weirdest that that happened all day. "Stop! No more! We gotta stop talking about this. I'm gonna wipe what happened today from my brain. I don't think my poor heart can take anymore."

Chie looked pale when I looked back at her. "I'm feeling a chill too…"

I looked at the ground now; we all did, because all four of us felt sick. "Yeah, I think we all do. Let's just go home!"

Everyone nodded in agreement and we all wanted to go home.

* * *

Time Change: After School to Evening

Yosuke and Yu were already home as Chie was walking me to my house; I had no idea why though. The thought was nice, just we both felt sick. Though I did have my ankle to think about for a moment. Chie sighed as we made it to my door; I was still limping, but barely now! "Whew, I'm glad that today is over now!"

"Ha," I was in completely agreed with her. It was one hell of a day; yet we all came out alive, so that's a win in my book! "Yeah, let's never do that for the hell of it!"

Chie just chuckled slightly at my comment. "You don't have to worry about that with me!"

I smiled as I opened the front door to my house, I was just about to walk in with my umbrella. Yet I had a better idea in mind. "Here." I held out my umbrella to Chie for her to take.

"W-what!?"

"It's still raining out and I have a spare," I was trying hard to get her to take it, mainly cause I didn't want her to get sick, and we were both so damn exhausted from today that it wasn't even funny! "Don't try and argue; you will lose this fight! So please, I don't want you getting sick."

Chie blushed as I never even gave her a chance to fight back against my proposal! Only reason was because I didn't think I could win this fight if I got a "critical hit to the nads!" Chie slowly took the umbrella from my hand. "Thank you."

"Hey, call it even for back in the TV." I winked at nonchalant wink at her. "Though if you ever need anything Chie, you can talk to me."

"I'm actually glad to hear that!" Chie smiled brightly which caused me to smile brightly. "I will take you up on that over a steak some time?"

"Definitely! And hey, at least one good thing came out of today!" I smiled as she walked backwards to hear what I had to say.

"What's that?"

"Logic is losing one to four!"

* * *

**Whew I feel good getting Chapter 3 done before going to sleep, well ain't no rest for the wicked! once again I hope you enjoyed! Please sumbit reviews! The feed back is welcome! there will not be an update on the date of 2/16/13! Sorry, I will update as soon as possible!**


	4. Chapter 4: Nightmares

August 20, 2009

Forecast…. Raining

"Hey," A large boy in a football jersey walked over a smaller ball who was drawling down strange patterns in a sketch book. The smaller boy was doing his best to try and ignore the larger one, using his earbuds as an excuse for why he couldn't hear him. The football player noticed this and was already getting pissed, so he did what he did every day to the smaller boy. He pushed him clean out of his desk, which caused the boy too hit his head against the wall, the factuality member who was still at school to grade his papers ignored the act of violence. "I was talking to you dumbass! How main times to I have to tell you this? This is my seat! You can't just get your rich little mummy to buy every damn thing you want!"

"I don't have do anyth-" The boy was trying to defend himself when the jock threw a punch hitting the boy who was newly standing back up right in the stomach.

"Shut the fuck up!" The jock smiled, he loved doing this more than anything, except football. Everyone in the school did not like this boy, he was weird, always ignored them to listen to music and draw stupid fucking patterns in a sketch book, and the final insult to injury was that the boy had rich parents! "You are nothing but a rich pretentious piece of shit Rich-shards! Just fucking kill yourself, not a single person would miss you damnit!"

"Y-you're w-w-wrong!" the boy, still trying to gain his breath back, started to tear up. This was his sixth school in the country. Yet, nothing changed no matter where he went! Everybody wanted him too just disappear, they wanted him to die. Only this time the teachers felt the same too! Only because his mom came into money where they able to afford sending just him all over to go to school. Yet tomorrow they were visiting him because of his grades, he knew what it meant too, they were going to make him go to another school already, because his grades dropped… again.

"No," The jock smiled evil as he grabbed the boy by the caller of his shirt. "You know I'm right you little shit! So run on home now, I'm done with you, you worthless piece of shit!"

With that the boy let go and stormed away, leaving his victim to stew about what he said. He quickly grabbed his sketch pad and ran home, tears now rolling down his face. You can only argue with someone for so long before you actually start to believe them, that is what happened that day. When he made to his house, the boy slammed the door shut and started sobbing loudly. He hated his life; he never asked to be rich! He wanted his parents to become poor, yet he had to think about his sister too, that was not a deciding factor in his next decision though, the boy took out his i-pod and started to play _Bullet_ by Hollywood Undead, as the song's upbeat tone played in his ears, he sang along with song for the most part, he walked to the bathroom and stared at his reflection.

_When you're young,_

_You'd never thought you die!_

_Found out you could, but too scared to try,_

_You looked in the mirror and you said good bye,_

_Climbed to the roof to see if you could fly_

"Goodbye," he smiled at his reflection sadly and pulled out a razor blade. "Goodbye Kreed Richards, the most unwanted person in the world!"

With that I dug the blade into my wrist…

* * *

April 15, 2011

Forecast…

I shot up in my bed tears streaming from my eyes; it was the first in a long time that I had a nightmare like that. I held my head for a moment as I looked around my room, this was the first really time I had gotten to just look at my surroundings. My room was mess from all the days I hadn't picked anything up, there were still boxes in the corner of my room. I walked over to an open box labeled with a sketch of a weird and unique pattern. I made the pattern so that people wouldn't look in it without asking first. Reaching into the book, I pulled out about three notebooks, they were just a few of the sketch pads that I had used in my life. There was something about drawling that just made me feel complete; it was an escape for me, when I drew down anything on my mind. I felt like I was the only person that mattered, no one else could hurt me if I was drawling.

I quickly finished my trip down memory lane and sighed, something didn't feel right about today, and I couldn't quite place my finger on it. I looked over at my clock, and saw that it was five in the morning. I decided to get ready for the day. Before I even got dressed, I looked at the two scars that ran along my writs. Two of the five scars that I didn't want anyone to see, and started to sob quietly, this was going to be a long day and I knew it! Yet I would just have to put on a brave face like always.

* * *

Time change: Five AM to Early morning

Fog had enveloped the town this morning, and I swore I heard a few police sirens somewhere off in the distance, yet the rain was still coming down. I sighed, on days like this, I loved to try and draw, so I had my sketch pad under my arm. I was so tired, apparently last night I had tossed and turned enough that it felt like I didn't get any sleep last night. I was so busy thinking about my nightmare that I bumped into someone. "_Son of a-_ Oh! Yu, what's up? You feel any better after yesterday?"

Yu nodded to me and started to talk, AGAIN a freaking miracle. "Yeah, but apparently there was an accident, my uncle had to leave early so he could go and see what happened."

"Yikes!" I recoiled slightly, and went to push at my glasses, when I remembered… I didn't have them. Damn Yosuke! "What do you think happened?"

Yu just shrugged at me. "I heard some girls gossiping but they just finished when you bumped into him."

"Dude," I smiled brightly, I don't know why, but I felt comfortable enough when I was with Yu and the other. Yet we still had to get to school on time, so I decided to think about it more later when I had the time. "Way to sound like a creeper!"

Yu smiled back. "Hey I'm just a pro!"

* * *

Time Change: Early Morning to Afternoon

There was nothing that really happened today except King Moron's usual rants about… well everything being indecent. Then, just after lunch we were all called into the auditorium for a pepper rally or something, I didn't really hear what it was. I was drawling in my sketch pad and was too focused on the stuff I was drawling to even hear what they said. Chie had to physically poke me to break my concentration. So the entire student body was gathered as well as all the stuff members. Ms. Sofue was standing at the podium in the middle of the stage. Yu was listening in another conversation between gossiping girls, Chie was staring at her phone with great intent, and Yosuke seemed about as down as I was when I woke up. I on the other hand had calmed down after me and Yu walked to school, so I was humming the beat of a song I knew, as Chie put her phone away. "Yukiko said she'd be here after lunch…"

I was standing next to her at the time. "Don't worry; she's probably just helping out her folks."

"I know." She sighed, I could already tell that Chie was kinda protective of Yukiko. It wasn't a bad thing either, sometimes true strength, is knowing when to step in and help someone. Chie turned back so she could see all three of us. "I wonder why they're holding a school assembly all of a sudden."

"Crap!" I recoiled in fake fear now. "They found out that I'm a spy! Oh no!"

Yu started to laugh at my joke, Chie just shook her head, but she was smiling, until she turned to Yosuke. "Hey, what's wrong, Yosuke?"

Yosuke finally looked up for what must have been the most interesting spot on the ground in the whole freaking world, because he just blow off the question. Which was the first indicator that something was wrong, I knew that from experience.

"Oh, it's nothing…" Yosuke looked back to the ground as Ms. Sofue finally started to speak.

"Everyone, please settle down." I was surprised by how many people actually shut up, usually people keep talking because no one gave a crap. "The school assembly is about to begin. First, the Principal has something to say."

Principal was an old man with a white beard and bald spot on his head, he wore a blue robe with a black over coat. Ms. Sofue walked away from the stand so the principal could talk, and what he said finally made me realize what made me so uneasy this morning!

"I…" Not the best start to a speech to begin with! "Regret to say that I have a terrible announcement for all of you."

Now you just scared all the first-years in the crowd, god we the Principal needed so public speaking lesions. "One of our third-year students, Ms. Saki Konishi of Class 3…"

That instantly was able to catch my attention; Saki was Yosuke's friend and crush! I looked at Yosuke and saw all of the emotions that were running through his head; fear, worriment, and sadness. "Has passed away."

That grabbed all four of our attentions! What the fuck was going on!? She looked fine yesterday, now she was dead! Was it the same person that got that announcer? Yosuke suddenly looked like he was going to cry, I couldn't blame him either. The person he had fallen in love with had just dead!

"Miss Konishi was found deceased early this morning…" I knew it, something was wrong this morning! "The reasons behind her passing are currently under investigation by the police. If they ask you for your cooperation, I urge you as students of this school, to provide only the facts."

Everyone started gossiping and talking, but the one emotion that had swept over the whole room was fear! After all, we as humans fear the unknown, it is only natural, still Yosuke was about to break down and I knew it. "All right, please quiet down. I have been assured by the faculty that there's been no evidence that bullying was involved in the incident."

"_Just because someone says that doesn't mean there wasn't!_" grumbled in English so that no one would understand what I was saying and question me on that.

"So mind what you say, not only to the police but to anyone who ask."

Chie spoke first, she was in complete shock, so was Yu, I was surprised that he even showed the emotion, I could tell it took a lot to faze the guy. "Found dead…? How could this happen…?"

"If I found out anyone bullied her," I clenched my fist. "Even though I didn't know that well, no one deserves this kind of treatment."

Yosuke was out of it for the rest of the address, everyone was, and no one could blame any of us. It was a major shock to found out that someone you even just met once was found dead.

Yosuke had run a head of us as the assembly ended, that left Chie, Yu, and me to try and find him. As we searched we heard two girls gossiping on the first floor of the school, school was pretty much over at this point so people were already leaving too. "She died the same way as that announcer, right? That's so creepy…"

"Well, last time, it was from an antenna, but this time she was hanging from a telephone pole. It's gotta be a serial murder case."

"Someone said the cause of death was some unknown poison."

"Unknown…? C'mon, this isn't some sci-fi drama." _You never know!_

"Oh, by the way, did you hear? Someone saw a girl that looked like Saki on that Midnight Channel thing." That really grabbed our attention, now that they mentioned it… the girl that we saw looked kinda like her. _OH MY GOD I'M AN IDIOT! IT WAS HER!_ "They said she totally looked like she was in pain. Isn't that scary?"

"Haha, sounds like someone had a nightmare." _Yeah, not just that person either!_ "Media's been broadcasting their interviews with her nonstop, so maybe they just had Saki on the brain."

With that they left, as they walked away, Chie got visibly angry at the two girls. "Sheesh, it's easy to toss around theories if you're not personally involved…"

"Hey…" I jumped almost ten feet in the air when I heard a familiar voice behind me. I spun on my foot as fast as possible to see Yosuke behind me, he still looked very much pained by this news.

"JESUS!" I yelled in fear. "Don't ever sneak up behind my like that again! God I just about had a heart attack!"

"Sorry," Yosuke didn't so much as flinch. "Did you guys check out the TV last night?"

"Yosuke!" Chie got irritated at Yosuke now, not to anyone's surprise. "Not you too!"

"Dude," I shook my head at him. "After yesterday I want nothing to do with TVs for some time."

"GUYS!" Yosuke yelled at us not in anger though still much to our surprise. "Just listen for a sec! Something kept bothering me, so… I watched it again, and…"

Chie looked like she was about to say something, so I held out my hand to single her to let Yosuke finish. "I think the girl on the screen… was Saki-senpai."

I that's where this was headed, yet I knew where it was going to go next, and I didn't like the looks of it, especially after yesterday! Yosuke did manage to gain Yu's and Chie's attention. "There's no mistaking it… Senpai looked like… she was writhing in pain… And then… she disappeared from the screen."

"What?" Chie had no idea where this was heading obviously, so I kindly spoke what I knew was on Yosuke's mind.

"So now you think she got in the TV somehow," Chie and Yu looked at me with shock, Yosuke just nodded. "Not only that, but… you think people who show up on the Midnight Channel die, case in point: the announcer and Saki, stop me if I'm wrong. And now you want to go back and ask the bear if she was there, right?"

"Yes."

"YOU FU-_FUCKING_ IDIOT!" I knew he wanted answers, but I was not going to risk everyone's safety for this. "Even if it was, you need the bear to let you out, and we still have no idea if that world is even safe!"

Yosuke knew what I was saying, but he still wouldn't let it go. "I need to know why senpai died like this, I just can't dismiss all of this as coincidence, after everything I saw! I just can't let this go! I'm going to Junes, I won't force you guys to come with me or even making you guys let me do this, after all I need Narukami to go back."

Before we could even say anything against him, Yosuke left, I could tell just by the look on her face that Chie was just as worried as me about this. "I can kinda understand how he feels, but we can't be sure we'll be able to get out safely again."

"Exactly my thoughts," I sighed and turned to Yu, he looked lost in thought. "So what about you Narukami? What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to help him," Yu said that with such a start face that I went into a coughing fit again. He wasn't serious, right? "He needs answers."

"Are you nuts!?" I yelled at Yu for a moment, before calming down and looking at Chie. "Anyway, let's go make sure he is fine!"

Chie nodded in agreement. "Yeah."

With that we all left for Junes to get that idiot Yosuke before he got him, and the rest of us killed.

* * *

Time Change: Afternoon to After School

Junes electrical department

Yosuke was standing in front of the same TV that we jumped in last time, only he had a golf club in his hand and a rope that was tied around his waist in the other. The dumbass had the audacity to smile at us as we approached him. "You guys came."

"We came to stop you, idiot!" Chie stomped her foot in frustration.

"Except for Mr. Mute over here!" I pointed at Yu with frustration. "Look Yosuke there are other ways of doing this besides jumping head on into a dangerous place, but if you keep doing this; make sure to send us a post card from the afterlife!"

"Don't joke about stuff like that!" Chie turned some of her frustration to me now. She refocused her energy back to Yosuke now. "C'mon… You really shouldn't do this. It's too dangerous."

I know…" Yosuke tried his hand at calming us down, only I had a royal flush and he had a two of a kind, aka it didn't work!

"If you know, then you WOULDN'T be doing this!"

"Would you please let me talk!"

"Are you still going to go through with this?"

"Yes."

"Then no!"

"Gah!" Yosuke gave up trying to calm me down and turned back to Chie. "But we were able to come back once, right? If we go in from the same location, maybe we'll meet that bear again."

"Yosuke," I spoke up trying to get his attention again.

"Yeah?"

"You are," I paused for dramatic affect. "A total dumbass!"

"I'm with Kreed here!" Chie stomped her foot again, man she was really putting her foot down (ha ha get it?). "'Maybe' isn't good enough!"

"Look," Yosuke put all the sincerity he had at that moment into his voice, trying to get us to at least let him go in, and it was starting to work on me. "I can't just act like everyone else and pretend this has nothing to do with me."

It was also working on Chie a little. "That's true but…"

"What about you Narukami? Could you just walk away? Or you Kreed?"

Yu nodded in agreement with Yosuke. "I'm with you."

I sighed and voiced my feelings here. "Look you guys may want to, but I'm more worried about Chie."

I could see that in the corner of my eye that Chie had started to blush a solid red color. Yosuke grinned with sincerity. "You two don't have to come with us. That's why I want Chie to hold this!"

Yosuke had handed her the end of the rope that wasn't tied to his waist. "What's that? A rope…?"

"We'll go in with this tied to me," Yosuke smiled meekly at us. "So I want you to hold on to this and wait here."

"I lifeline?" I had I feeling it wouldn't work and so did Chie.

"Wh-what? C'mon wait a sec…"

Yosuke ignored her pleas and turned to Yu, handing him the golf club. "Here Yu, this is for you. I thought it might be better than going in empty-handed. Alright… let's go. There's no use wasting any more time. Chie, whatever you do, don't let go of the rope!"

With that Yosuke and Yu both went up to the TV and disappeared into the screen. A few moments after they left, Chie titled her head and scratched the top of her head. Feeling a slight tug from the other end of the rope, she pulled on it until it popped out, my jaw dropped almost to the floor. Chie fell to her knees and fell to her knees. "See I knew this wouldn't work!"

I walked over to her and bent down so I was sitting next to her, I rubbed her back as she sobbed for a bit. "They'll be back."

"How do you know!" Chie said through her sobs, tears soon fell to the floor from her face.

"Do I have any reason to lie to you?"

"Yes!"

With that I sighed and pulled out my sketch book, I looked around for something to draw. Finally I found the most beautiful thing in the area to draw. So I started to sketch it in full detail, only with a way I remember it from an earlier stage. "What are you doing?"

"Calming myself down." Chie stared at him as I kept drawling; she looked at me with confusion. "Drawling helps calm me down; after all, it's helped through six different schools."

Chie looked at me with shock, but she didn't say anything, so we waited for the guys to come back. It took a few hours, but finally the guys came back through the TV, Yosuke was smiling brightly and was being carried by Yu. I practically jumped to my feet when I saw them, Chie looked up the tears quickly came back to her eyes. "You guys came baaaaaack!"

Yu smiled at us, Yosuke looked shocked for a moment. "Huh, Chie? What's with that face?"

"DUMBASS!" I yelled at Yosuke. "What do you think is the problem!?"

Chie still had the rope in her hand and threw it full strength at Yosuke, which was still enough to knock him to the ground. "Shut up! I was so worried! I mean scared stiff DAMNIT! I hate you both!"

Chie then ran away from everyone tears falling from her eyes. "I think that might have been our fault."

"No shit!" I was so initiated at those two at the moment. "Damnit, I'll go get her!"

"Wait," Yu tried to stop me. "The bear asked us to give these to you."

Yu was holding my glasses, they were completely fixed! "T-thanks. See you guys later I guess?"

With that I ran after Chie. Now that I freaking see! It was a damned miracle! The lenses were even better than I ever imagined, it was almost like I never needed them in the first place! Damn, that bear was good, at, well whatever the fuck it was that he did… "_Damnit Chie, where are you!_"

After a good hour or so I finally noticed a familiar green jumper curled up on a bench in the mall. Chie was still crying, I could tell by the fact that she was still shaking. I looked down at the sketch pad in my hand. I had drawn the most beautiful thing I saw at the time, I drew Chie… I sighed and walked over to her. "Hey, this seat taken?"

Chie looked up at me, rubbing the tears out of her eyes. I could tell that she had been crying for a time now, her eyes were red. Chie shook her head at me then looked back to the ground. Sobbing slightly still. "Hey, I told you they'd be back… still I know how you felt. I was just as scared as you, I mean even though I just met you guys… I feel happy being around all of you. I can tell all three of you actually care about me and vice versa."

"That's still no reason for what they did!" Chie retaliated at me. I knew she was right, but I wasn't here for her to forgive them, I was here for her!

"You're right," I smiled weakly as I placed my sketch pad on Chie's lap, she looked at it and her jaw dropped. It looked unrealistic, but very detailed; I drew everything, down to the wrinkles on her jumper. She looked amazed, or thought I was a major creeper. "I did that to calm down; I didn't want to talk, because I knew anything I said would have made you worry more. You know, if you ever need to talk about anything. You can come to me; I'll listen to everything that you have to say!"

Chie smiled brightly at me until she saw my right wrist that had slipped out of my sleeve, a deep scar ran across it. I noticed what she was looking at and sighed, I wasn't panicked or anything, much to my surprise. It was not a topic I liked talking about. "Wh-what happened to your wrist!?"

"I've had this scar for a little over a year." I calmly explained to her, my voice started to shake a little. "I was in the lowest point of my life. I saw no other way out, so I tried to end my suffering. My mom and sis came to visit the house I was living in at that time… They found me on the bathroom floor…"

Chie gasped as I explained to her one of the darkest memories of my life. "I tried three more times after that… each time with the same result."

I pulled the caller of my shirt down so she could see a scar that spanned my entire neck in a perfect circle. "This was the last attempt, it was a month before I came to Inaba and met all of you. It hurts just to think about my life. No one liked me, I was always picked on and called names, even the teachers didn't stop it."

A tear rolled down my cheek. Chie wiped it away with her sleeve, she looked concerned for me. "I don't know why I'm telling you this, I guess I just feel like I can trust you. You know, it feels good to finally get that off my chest!"

"You actually helped me."

I looked at Chie, she was still smiling sadly, but there was some happiness and gratitude in her eyes. "H-hey Chie?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you not tell the guys about this, my scars and the drawling?"

She smiled at me and nodded her head. I helped her feel better by sharing in some of my suffering. It felt weird but good at the same time, still the last two scars where the ones that I wouldn't let her she, we were not close enough for that, I didn't think we would ever be. Chie slowly got to her feet and sighed. "Well, thanks for the talk. I feel better, and I guess I'll see you tomorrow. Oh, Kreed!?"

"Yes."

"You're a good friend," I blushed a little bit and looked towards the ceiling of Junes. "Anyway, bye!"

I waved to her as she left the mall, now that the information was out there, there was no going back, and I wanted no one but Chie would ever know that I had attempted suicide. Yet no one, not even me, knew why there was always a black haired girl that had saved me the last three times. Yet I found myself wishing I could see her again, that way I could thank her. I got up from my seat and started to walk home after. One my way home I noticed a black haired girl walking toward the shopping district, it was the same girl from the train station the day I had gotten to Inaba. I just shrugged and went to home to sleep the day off. Still scared about the information I had given Chie. The last thought on my mind before I went to sleep was why I had told Chie about my scars. I still had no idea why I did it.

* * *

**Took me all day but here is chapter 4, I know, I know. OMG Kreed is suicidal! Well I thought it would be a good thing to help build his character can you blame me! Well that's all for today and next chapter will not be so depressing I promise!**


	5. Chapter 5: Welcome to the Show Yukiko!

_**Disclaimer! I own nothing from the Persona series! That would be Atlus! Only thing that is mine are my OC's! Now enjoy!**_

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April 16, 2011

Forecast: Raining

"That is one hell of a story!" My eyes widened as I listened to the story about Yosuke's shadow. It would have been impossible for someone to believe had they not been to the TV world themselves. Which is a good thing that I was, otherwise I would probably set them away with the nice white men with the nice white jacket that would take them to the nice white room, or ya know called them crazy and left it at that! "So, Yosuke, your shadow-thing-whatever the hell you call it, what did it say to make you freak out?"

Yosuke's eyes widened in fear the moment the question left my mouth; you'd think from that reaction that he thought everyone was a bore or something like that. Oh, well. "N-nothing important!"

Yu just smiled at our friend's discomfort, which I then turned to Mr. Mute and threw out a new question. "So nothing came out in your case? So what does that mean, you accepted it on this side, or maybe you have nothing to hide?"

Yu just shrugged at my question; sometimes I wished he would just say something. Yet, I guess he really didn't need to say much. I pretty much understood what he was saying most of the time, I guess. Yu finally voiced a question. "Hey Kreed, have you seen Chie yet?"

"No," I raised one of my eyebrows at his question. "Why do you ask?"

"Well," Yu took a deep breath before explaining why he asked me a weird question like that. "Neither Yosuke or me have seen her yet today, and you two seem to be getting close."

God the coughing fit I broke out into would make people think I was starting to die, but give me a break! We just met at the beginning of this week and Yu is already jumping the gun thinking that we are DATING, don't get me wrong, I thought Chie was cute, hell beautiful, and I liked her, but DAMN way to jump the gun Yu! "D-_DUDE, _DUDE _WE FOR FUCK'S-!_ W-WE JUST MET FOR GOD'S SAKE MAN!"

"I didn't mean it like that." God I felt like a total dumbass for exploding like that, thank god all of the cussing was in English and the King Moron wasn't in the room, god I would be in trouble if that happened! Just before I could defend myself, the sound of a door sliding open quickly, made all three of us turn our heads around to see guess who?

"Speak of the devil and she shall appear!" I joked lightly until I noticed that Chie seemed frantic about something. This wasn't about yesterday was it? _GOD! I thought that I had gotten past that!_ My fears about this were only expanded as she ran over to the three of us.

I was surprised at what happened next, Yosuke apologized! "Oh… Chie! Um… About yesterday… We're sorry we worried you…" of course the world was trying to give me a heart attack that day apparently!

"Never mind that." I started to have another coughing fit, good GOD! If these didn't think I had a health problem by the end of the year… "Is Yukiko still not here?"

"No," I spoke up from my seat, again being crowded, again CLASURPHOBIA! "We thought you would walk here with her."

"Oh man…" That right there scared the crap out of me, was she in trouble, I didn't know her very well, but I could tell she was a good person. "What should I do…? Hey, is that stuff you were talking about for real?"

"Well," I tried to calm her down; there was no need to assume the worst right? "They have one hell of a story behind what happened yesterday."

"Oh," Yosuke blew right past my comment, on come man don't worry her AGAIN! "We were just talking that. We're thinking of checking it out later-"

"The person on TV yesterday…" I raised an eyebrow at her, why do I seem to miss all the important stuff!? "I think it was Yukiko." Yu and Yosuke replied in shock, I, again responded by coughing up a freaking lung! God, Yosuke might just need to pay for my medical bills! "That Kimono looked like the one she wears at the inn, and she wore it during that interview a few days ago too."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" I waved my hands in front of my face for a moment. Are you trying to tell me that I missed the Midnight Channel again, and the person who was one it was freaking Yukiko! God, next time someone text or call me!"

"Dude," Yu put a hand on my shoulder, indicating for me to calm the freak down! I did for the most part, but still, this was a good reason to back into the TV at least! Not like Yosuke's, good god he had to be a dumbass. "Let her finish…"

"I-I'm sorry Chie."

She just nodded and went back to her story. "I got worried, so I emailed her last night, but she hasn't responded… I called her in the evening though, and she said that she'd be at school today… I-I…"

Chie looked close to tears; I wasn't going to let that happen after yesterday. "Chie, look at me! She was probably busy at the inn, give her another call."

"Y-yeah," Chie took a deep breath and pulled out her phone, she quickly punched in the number for Yukiko's cell. I was close enough that I could hear the thing ring, and go straight to fucking voice mail! Go freaking figure. "No good… Her voicemail picked up."

Yu quickly told Chie everything that they had told me about the other world… You know what, screw it! I'm calling it the Shadow World! If you don't like it, TO BAD! But I digress! "What are you guys saying that… Yukiko got thrown in there!"

I quickly elbowed Yu for making her worry even more! You do not pull a stunt like that, god! "I highly doubt that! Look try the inn, maybe she's working."

"Man," Yosuke put his hand to his forehead. "Is Yukiko-san in that place?"

"Y-you're right!" She ignored Yosuke's comment for the most part! "I have the number here somewhere…"

I heard her hit a few more buttons and the other line started ringing. "C'mon, Yukiko… Pick up…" That's when I heard someone pick up the other end of the phone. "Oh, is this Yukiko!?"

Chie held the mic of her phone and turned to us. "Thank god, she's there!"

I turned to Yu and Yosuke and proceeded to flip them both off. "Told ya!"

"Uh-huh… Uh-huh, I see… Ah, uh. Nah, it was nothing, haha. I'll email you again later…." I smiled as Chie finally calmed down, crisis avoided! Chie sighed, a smile upon her face. "She was over at the inn. She said they had a big group reservation and she had to help out."

"Again!" I point at Yu and Yosuke. "I win!"

"Yeah…" Chie thought about it for a moment, I thought she was going to explode at Yosuke. "Now that I think about it, this has happened before, too. At least once a year. She said she'll be at the inn tomorrow, too." Huh, never mind I was wr- "Oh, for crying out loud, Yosuke! You got me worried over nothing! And you were all, 'Is Yukiko-san inside that place…? Hmph…"

Logic one, me five! Then I assumed Yosuke would retaliate against her. "S-sorry." SON OF A-, logic two, me five. "But there is a reason we thought that."

"Like what?" I asked, with actual curiosity. "Seriously explain, we would like to know this."

"Well…" I was surprised with how mature Yosuke was being, not to sound like a dick here! "We thought people show up on the Midnight Channel because they're already over in that world."

"So," I spoke up believing that once again I knew where this was going. "You think that they might show up before they are kidnapped, right?"

"Dude," Yosuke raised an eyebrow at me. "How did you come up with that!?"

"Just a guess."

"Well, let's meet up at Junes after school." Everyone nodded in agreement, we knew what we had to do now!

* * *

Time Change: Early Morning to After School

Junes

"This would have been a good idea if no one was here!" I complained, well because the electronics department was full of people! We wanted to go back in to the TV, but with that many people here, heh there was no way in hell we were just gonna jump into a TV in the middle of a large crowd like this! Yu had also just finished explaining what happened yesterday in the Shadow World. "So, again Yosuke I ask, what did you shadow say?"

"Wh-why is it important!?" Yosuke freaked out again, god if I ever found out what his shadow said I would moon walk all over Inaba! "S-so, I think that's more than enough about my sorry escapades."

"No," I shook my head, I hope he knew I was never gonna let it go. "I think we need to hear just a little bit more."

"Will you two focus!?" Chie snapped at both me and Yosuke, god I was scared for the safety of my nads at that point in time. "Yukiko might be in danger here! And it's like you two don't even care!"

Me and Yosuke hung our heads in shame. I was the only one who spoke up though. "I'm sorry; I'm just trying to lighten the mood."

Chi sighed with her hands on her hips. "I-I know, S-so what are we going to do, because Kreed is right, there are way too many people here."

"I know," Yosuke sighed, how in the hell could you forget when a sale was going on being the managers son! "I forgot there's a sale in the electronics department today…"

Exactly what I just said! Yosuke suddenly looked like he got hit with a bolt of inspiration! "I got it! Guys, make a wall around Yu."

"Why," My eyebrow raised a bit at his "plan," make a wall, dear god Yosuke! I finally just shrugged, it might work. "Fine, I'll watch to see if anyone is trying to come down the ale behind us."

Yosuke and Chie stood on either side of Yu to block everyone's view of him. "Okay, Yu, try sticking your hand into the TV and call for Teddie. I bet that bear's wandering around the entrance anyway."

I was surprised that Yosuke's plan was actually working for the time being, yet I think it worked a little too well. Yu put his hand into the TV for a moment before pulling it back in pain. "OW!"

"W-what happened!?" Chie quickly looked at Yu's hand, there were bite marks across his hand. "Oh, ow that looks like it hurt, are you okay?"

"I think I'm dieing." Yu stated that like Teddie had freaking poisonous teeth! Which we later found out that he does not have any type of poison on him at any time, thank god!

"You look fine to me," Chie glared at Yu. "Sheesh that stupid bear must've done it."

"Well," I shrugged my shoulder raising my hands up by my face. "Better than those shadow things."

Chie got frustrated at our stuffed psychotic bear. "Hey, you! We know you're in there!"

The screen started shimmer as I heard familiar voice come through, well I guess the speakers of the TV on a low volume. "Ooh ooh, is this a game?"

"Yeah," I smiled evilly. "I'm thinking of a number between one and ten!"

"Both of you knock that off!" Yosuke barked at both me and Teddie. "No, it's not a game! Can you sense anyone inside there right now?"

"Who's 'anyone?'" Teddie said, I thought he was serious until the next words left his, I think that counted as a mouth, it did move after all. "I'm a lonely little bear like always. This land feels so bear-ren…" I couldn't help but snicker, it was kinda funny after all. No one seemed to agree with me though, as Chie decided to yell at the poor little bear.

"Shut it!" She quickly calmed down though, god she must really have cared for Yukiko. "So there's no one inside…? You're sure?"

"I-I'm not lying!" Teddie quickly tried to defend his disposition. "My nose is running as good as ever!"

"Are we sure he's not a blood hound?" I come on, with that one I had to ask, he made it way too easy!

"Does it even matter!?" Yosuke barked at me again.

"No, I just wanna know."

Chie sighed while scratching her head. She seemed content that her friend was not inside the TV. "I'm gonna go warn Yukiko anyway."

"Here," Yosuke flipped out his phone, Yu and Chie did the same thing. I shrugged and did the same. Suddenly a message appeared after a the guys told me what to press. It said as followed: _You now have Yosuke H., Yu N., and Chie S. as contacts._ I thought that was freaking awesome! Why don't phone's work like this in the states! "This way we can call each other if something does show up!"

"Okay," Chie pumped her arms down to her sides. "I'm going to run as fast as possible to warn her!"

"Be careful," I waved good bye to her as she ran out of the electronics department and the mall. "So, what's the plan guys?"

"What do you think?" Yosuke sighed as he started to walk away too. "Check the Midnight Channel later tonight, and if she shows up, me and Yu can do our thing!"

Yu smiled as he too started to walk away too. "Let's hope we're wrong thow!"

"Yeah," I sighed as I pulled out my phone when they were out of sight. There was a message on the screen. I hated what it said and the person who sent it. Flipping the phone shut I started to walk away from the TV, and put in my i-pod for the walk home. This was going to be a long year, I could already tell.

* * *

Time Change: After School to Evening

Just before Midnight

It was eleven fifty-nine, I yawned, if we had to do this on a regular basis I was gonna lose so much sleep I would turn into a zombie before the end of the week! Even though it was Saturday, god I thought that was stupid! A six day school week, what the crap is up with that! Geeze, at least we would have all day to go save Yukiko if she showed up on the Midnight Channel. Suddenly a very clear image appeared on the screen of my TV. I swore I saw a castle in the back ground, all I could think before anyone even said anything was,_ Looks like a low budget TV show!_ Yukiko was in the center of the screen though!

"Good evening!" First that did not sound like Yukiko's voice, way too… um, what's the word… Cheerful and well stakerish! She was in some weird ass dress that looked like something a Disney princess would wear, Gag! Then I noticed the microphone she was holding. Dear god, what the hell is she doing!? "Tonight, princess Yukiko has a big surprise."

Oh god, this should good… "I'm gonna go score myself a hot stud!" I instantly started to cough up a lung, but can you blame me! THIS SOUNDED NOTHING LIKE YUKIKO and I was right about the stalkerish part! Dear god I was so creeped out! "Welcome to not a dream not a hoax!"

I wished it was! This was so fucking weird! "Princess Yukiko's hunt for her prince charming! And I came prepared!" I was so creeped out at this point that nothing she said could have surprised me! "I got my lacy unmentionables on stacked top to bottom!"

God I have never been so wrong in my entire life! I went into another coughing fit, only this time I fell off my couch and slammed my head against the end table. God that hurt! "I'm out to catch a whole harem, and the best of the lot will be all mine! Weell, here I go!"

With that the Midnight Channel turned off. "_I'm not gonna get any sleep tonight."_

* * *

April 10, 2011

Forecast: Clear

Time: Evening

The plane moved at high speeds there the air as I sat there looking over how to speak and read Japanese one last time. I sighed loudly; everyone else was very much deep asleep on the plane, except for me and the person who sat next to me. It was a girl was blonde; her skin was very much pale. Her eyes were an unnatural shade of light blue. She had this weird head band that covered her ears, she also wore a long black skirt and black long sleeved blouse with a red tie… why a tie I don't know, why a beanie for me instead of a baseball cap. BECAUSE I COULD! Still she seemed like she had just woken up even though she had been awake the whole flight so far. I decided to try something, so I turned to her. "_Um hel-_hello."

I held out my hand to her, to be honest I was trying to get a hang of Japanese before I got to Japan. She turned and smiled at me. "Hello, this is the first time we've meet, is it not?"

"_What? CRA-_" I quickly recovered. "S-sorry, I'm not very good at, _man how do you say that? Oh yeah!_ Speaking Japanese!"

"Oh," She still held out her hand to me. I got a look at them and raised an eyebrow, she looked like she and a glove on, but her finger tips were black, and I swore they looked like metal, I still shook her hand. "Nice to meet you, I'm Aigis!"

"Kreed," I knew I wasn't good at speaking it, which was going to take some time, but I was really close to understanding every word of it! "So where are you, _um, oh,_ headed to?"

"Tokyo for the time being, what about you?"

"A small town called Inaba, I'm going to the local high school starting in two days."

"Well, your Japanese is almost perfect,_ even though you're a lot better at English. You might want to get some sleep, because we are going to be landing soon._"

My jaw just dropped, she spoke fluent English and Japanese. Yet I knew she was right, so I sighed and tried to get some sleep.

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**Sorry it took so long, I had school, but here it is! Chapter 5, sorry it's kinda short. Still hope you enjoyed and enjoy the chapters to come!**


	6. Chapter 6: Protect me Tomoe!

April 17, 2011

Forecast: Sunny

I started to walk to Junes to meet off with the rest of the gang, I pulled out my phone to text Chie when someone ran into me from behind, making me throw my phone at least five feet in front of me. "Ow, hey are you oaky- Chie! OH my god, are you okay!"

Chie was lying on the ground; I could see tears falling from her face. I went from confused to shocked to concerned in less than five seconds. "Chie, hey, are you okay?"

She was shivering, I put my hand on her shoulder, I could hear her sobbing. "Y-Yukiko, s-she…!"

"Chie…" I started to rub her back as she continued to sob. "Tell me what happened."

"I-I," Chie was quivering slightly still. I rubbed her back some more. "I tried to call her, b-but she wouldn't…."

"It's okay," I gripped her shoulder now. "Can you stand?"

She just nodded, and then she stood up the tears had stopped, but I knew she still wanted to cry. "It turns out that Yukiko really did disappear!"

"Hey!" I smiled and planted a thumb onto my chest. "We will get her back safely, after all! We just have to do before the fog lifts right!"

"H-how?"

"What?"

"How do you know that!?" Chie yelled at me. "How can you possibly know that!?"

My smile faded as I knew what she was getting at. Yet it returned just as fast "Because logic says it's impossible, and we pretty much kicked logic to the damn curb in the last few days!" My smile faded again. "Do I have a reason to lie to you?"

"YES!" Chie stomped her foot at me. "For all you know, she is already dead! And stop it with the 'because logic says so, it's wrong!' You don't know what it is like to have no hope left!"

"_SHUT UP_!" I didn't want to get pissed at her… I just did, she crossed the line. My anger got the best of me. "Do NOT talk about having no hope left until you WANT to fucking die, because EVERYONE thinks you are nothing more than garbage! I went through ten years of HELL, because I was the kid whose mom was rich! I wore a beanie everywhere so that I could hide from the world! You think I wanted to get that low that I thought the best option was to just kill myself!"

I finished yelling as Chie recoiled in fear and shock, my anger quickly subsided. Yet it was replaced with concern again, only not for Yukiko, for me… I felt like an asshole for what I just did. "H-hey, I'm sorry… I didn't mean to snap."

"N-no," Chie shook her head at me. "You're right; you have had it the worst out of all of us. I'm the one who shouldn't have snapped."

"Hey," I smiled again, even though anyone could tell it was forced. "Let's go meet the guys at Junes!"

She nodded as she took a few deep breaths to try and calm herself down. "Yeah, you're right! Let's go!"

Chie started to run a head of me as I recollected my cell phone; luckily it was still in tack! I quickly followed Chie until we got to Junes and noticed a police car out front; the cops were placing two people into the car, two very familiar faces. "Oh my freaking god! What did those two idiots do! God they probably took weapons into the damned store!"

"It was probably Yosuke's fault too!" Chie stomped her foot as we ran after the cop car that was slipping farther and farther away.

* * *

Police Station

"No more running to try and catch a freaking car!" I was so out of breath that I about fell on the ground and passed out, Chie on the other hand was perfectly fine! How in the hell that was even possible, don't ask me! We noticed Yosuke and Yu walking out of the back, neither looked like they were sorry about… whatever the hell they just did. Which kinda pissed me off, when Yosuke noticed he tried to say something only to get an elbow to the stomach. "You freaking dumbass! What did you idiots do!"

Yu stepped in between us quickly, apparently he was worried I was gonna get arrest next, because I did just kinda assault a guy in a police station! "S-sorry Yosuke."

"D-dude!?" Yosuke was grabbing his stomach. "Why?"

"Again," I started to rub the back of my head, an embarrassed smile on my face. "A-anyway! Now we need to confirm some things! Like the fact of… Wait? Should we really does this here!?"

"Huh?" Yu looked at me with confusion in his eyes. "What do you mean?"

I mouthed the words, "police station, police can hear us!"

Yu's eyes widened as he noticed that I was right. "H-hey guys let's go outside for a bit!"

Everyone (except Yosuke, still withering in pain!) nodded in agreement; I grabbed Yosuke by the shoulder and started to walk with him over my shoulder. "Again, sorry man!"

Well, what do you expect, my anger was still kinda high, and that moron just did the dumbest thing anyone could ever do, be Yosuke! After a quick recap of what happened with Yosuke and Yu, and Chie. I was calm again, but I knew they were still morons! "Okay, so there we have it! Now what about the cops thing things?"

"Oh!" Yosuke stopped his story after saying that "the cops were saying some weird things." "They think that Yukiko-san's hiding to 'lay low…' Apparently Yukiko-san's mom collapsed because that announcer lady bitched her out."

"Well," I sighed loudly, some pieces of the puzzle started to fit together nicely. "That explains why she kept having to leave early… Wait! How did you guys find that stuff out!?"

"Who cares!?" Chie's face started to get red with anger and frustration, yep she was pissed da fuck off! Not to my surprise though, hell not to anyone's surprise, they were making it sound like her best friend was a murderer! "They think that Yukiko did!? What the hell is wrong with them!?"

"Cops look at facts that are logical," I sighed loudly, again, cops never think about what could have happened might be illogical, that's one reason I'm never very happy around cops, but Yu's uncle looked like a good guy, so… why the not!? "That's one reason I go against logic! Still, now we can assume that Yukiko is on the other side… So now we have to go save her, all four of us!"

"What!?" Yu and Yosuke looked at me with shocked expressions. "Are you sure you guys will be alright…? I mean you guys don't have personas so…"

"Dude!?" I was pissed that he even thought about that! Come on don't be all high and mighty just because YU beat the shit out of YOUR Shadow! Chie curled her hands into fist, clearly still pissed.

"I'm going," Everyone, including me, looked at her with concern. "And that's final!"

"Fine," Yosuke looked to the ground for a moment. "But damnit they confiscated our weapons! Man this sucks!"

"Weapons!?" Chie looked surprised and hit with a bolt of inspiration, all at once. "I know just the palce!"

_Oh god! This isn't gonna end well!_

* * *

"Oh. My. God!" I just shook my head in disbelief at the shop. Dear fucking god! This shop would be heaven for a serial killer! Wait… Why did we never think it was the shop owner! WHAT THE FUCK!? I mean it would make sense! Jesus Christ, what the hell am I saying here! The person used a freaking TV and super powers to kill people! Hell, the manager at the Junes Electrical Department was a more likely freaking candidate for the murders than the man who made dangerous weapons used to kill people with!

Yes by the end of this case, logic was nonexistent! HOLY CRAP Almost ruined the plot there… I think… Anyway ways! I digress from my point! Yosuke was a little surprised that Chie even knew the place. "Chie, doesn't this seem weird to you!? Why would you know about a place like this anyway? Oh, I get it… You watched one too many kung-fu movies, and…"

"Dude!" I was close to grabbing a battle axe off of the wall and "axe" Yosuke a question! Huh-huh, ya get it! Too much…? A-anyways, god, I'm just trying to bring the humor back! "Not cool man, not cool!"

"I heard some guys in our class talk about it!" Chie stomped her foot in anger at Yosuke, again not a surprise! I shrugged though, I knew the weapon I was gonna use, but if I was gonna sneak it into Junes, I might as well buy it there! Chie looked over some of the inventory, a huge ass chain mail chest plate, yes because the police are just gonna look at you and go "Nice armor and big ass sword you got there! Have a nice day and make sure to use those weapons!" "Here, this one looks good. But it might be too heavy…"

Thank you god for giving someone other than me at the moment some common fucking sense! Yet, is sighed, I was close to offering to buy everyone their stuff, I mean after all, I had enough money to keep the house I was staying in running for at least ten years with constant repairs! "Yeah, we go in with too much stuff, dumbass one and dumbass two will get arrested again!"

"Wh-what about you!?" Yosuke stammered for a moment trying to bitch me out.

"Nope!" I smiled evilly, you know for how serious this case got, we almost never got down about it… almost. "What I'm going to use I can just buy at Junes and no one will be the wiser!"

"What?" Everyone actually looked confused.

"You'll see." Yeah, if they got away with this, it would be a freaking miracle! Especially with Yosuke and Yu, most likely under watch by the freaking cops!

"I dunno, Chie, Kreed…" Yosuke looked at the two of us with concern, which surprised me mostly! "I still think it's too dangerous. I know you feel, Chie, but-"

"You don't!" Chie didn't even let Yosuke finish his sentence before exploding in pure anger at Yosuke, even after our talk she was still overly worrying about Yukiko. I couldn't blame her either. "You don't know shit about how I feel… Yukiko might die from this, for crying out loud! I'm going, and that's that!"

"So am I!" I stomped my foot and poked my chest. "Yosuke, I know I was against it before, but now someone could easily die from this. _Damn this sucks,_ but I'm going to help as much as I can. We are going to get Yukiko, even if it kills us!"

Yosuke looked to the ground with defeat, he lost the fight and he knew it, Yu on the other hand nodded at us with a smile. "Okay, just becareful!"

"Pssh," Chie smiled at him. "I'll be fine! My reflexes are second to none!"

"Besides," I grinned at Yu. "You and Yosuke have those Persona things! We'll be fine!"

"Listen…" Yosuke now actually looked sad as he tried to explain to us the danger of the other world. "I'm not kidding around. You don't know what it's like in there! If you two aren't gonna listen to our warnings, we're leav-"

"Don't even finish that sentence!" I got up in Yosuke's face, yeah we had no idea what the shadows were like, but we knew the world, which was all we needed. "You even try and enter without us and I will smash all of your teeth out!"

"Fine," Yosuke finally admitted that he was the loser, to which I held out my fingers on my left hand in an L shape and flipped him the bird with my right! "Just make you guys have something to protect yourselves."

We all nodded in agreement. "Okay I'll meet you guys at Junes; I'm going to get my weapon there!"

Before anyone could object, I ran out of the shop and ran all the way to Junes. This way we were ready for anything!

* * *

Junes

"What took you guys so long?" I was standing at the usual table in the food court, a shopping bag in my hands. "Why are all three of you in your school uniforms?"

"To hide our weapons," Yosuke stated as a matter of fact, god this was even worse than bringing the weapons in the first time! "What's in the bag?"

"You'll see!" I sighed loudly as all three of them stood there. "Ya know, why didn't you just hide them in your normal clothes, after all, they still would have fit? Chie what is your weapon?"

Chie smiled a little as she just nodded at her feet, go figure right? I just sighed Yosuke finally spoke up again after a few minutes. "We really stick out… Guess it doesn't help that we're in our school uniforms on a Sunday."

"Again!" I threw my hand and slapped my forehead. "Hide them under CASUAL CLOTHES! Chie you didn't even need to hide yours."

They knew I was right, about still they sighed looking at the ground for a moment. "Well everyone ready?"

"The sale should end soon, that'll get rid of some of the people wandering around here. Hey, Chie?" Yosuke grabbed her attention; I already knew where this was going. DUDE you LOST leave it alone! "You know it's not too late to-"

Chie again beat him to the punch line, god Yosuke, you are an idiot. No matter what would have happened that day, all four of us were going in. Nothing was gonna change that fact. "I'm going!"

"Fine," You could physically see the irritation on Yosuke's face. "But don't push yourself, got it!?"

"Okay people!" I shot my hand into the air pointing a finger straight up into the air. "We got an unscheduled guest appearance on a very low budget TV program. So let's get the show on the road!"

* * *

Entrance of the Shadow World

The fall through the TV was a lot shorter than I remembered it; then again I somehow still managed to land right on my ass! Freaking great! "_Okay that is gonna piss me off!_" Chie only stumbled a bit and then managed to catch herself before falling flat on her face. Yosuke and Yu just kinda landed on their feet like all they did was jump up three inches. "_Show offs!_"

I looked around for a moment, I was confused, mainly because the guys said that when the fog lifted that the world was dangerous, but I couldn't see any fog what so ever. Chie noticed a form in the corner by some lights, how she could even see was beyond me. "Whoa, it really is that bear from last time…"

"H-hey guys!?" Yu turned to look at me, I noticed that he now had glasses on, so did Yosuke… what the hell, as far as I could tell they hadn't needed them in our world. "W-why is there no fog?"

Yu just pointed at his glasses, I looked at him for a moment before looking under my glasses, like I do all the time when reading. I could see that the world was still covered in the thick fog, so the lenses that were in the glasses wear what helped me see through the fog. "That's kinda cool!"

Yosuke was focusing most of his efforts to getting Teddie's attention to even notice me; I was now flipping my glasses up and down over my eyes to see if they worked that way. I was having so much fun with it! "What're you doing?"

"Can't you tell?" Teddie sound kinda down for some reason or another. Hell, I could only guess, I picked up my shopping bag before throwing the bag off of my new weapon! "I'm thinking about stuff. I've been dli-bear-ating over it for a long time now."

I stopped and looked at Teddie for a moment. "Animal puns, oh I so want in! Hey Teddie can you tell us if someone's here, we can't 'bear' to wait anymore!"

"Uugh," Yosuke groaned at us for a moment. "You know it might be useless for you to think too much about it. I've seen the inside of your skull, and it was empty."

"WAIT!?" I yelled and everyone turned to look at me. "WHAT THE FUCK!? HIS HEAD IS EMPTY!? HOW, WHO, WHERE, WHEN, WHY!?"

"Will you guys shut up!?" Chie was very clearly pissed, I know she was worried but no need to rip off everyone's nads for it god! "Now's not the time for stupid jokes! Listen… Someone came here yesterday, right?"

Teddie seemed surprised for a moment. "Wow! There's a girl with a better nose than me!? What's your name Miss?"

"Dude," I pulled my weapon into view for the first time. I pointed my baseball bat with a weight on it at Teddie. "Or you just might end up being the ball in a home run!"

"It's fine," Chie sighed and Yosuke gave me a stupid grin and I pointed the bat at him. "I'm Chie, and Mr. 'Home run' here is Kreed."

I gave a slight bow and gave my attention to getting a few practice swings in. "Tell me more about that 'someone!'"

"I think it happened a little after I talked with you guys. After that, it felt like someone was here."

Yosuke suddenly seemed surprised by the new information, even though we already freaking knew that Yukiko HAD been kidnapped! "Is it Yukiko-san!?"

"How the hell is supposed to know!?" I swung the bat one last time before I was satisfied with the results. "Not like he has TV's… oh wait, shit, he has TV's…"

"I don't know. I haven't looked…" Teddie seemed like content with that statement. "The presence is over that way. That's probably where they are."

"Well," I smiled evilly as I started to walk in the direction Teddie pointed. "Times a wastin', let's get this caravan moving!"

Everyone just looked at each other for a moment before Chie ran up to my side. "Don't worry Yukiko, I'm coming to get you!"

I smiled and started to sing a song that I knew would work for the time being.

_Hey kid_

_Do I have your attention?_

_I know the way you've been livin'_

_Life so reckless, tragedy endless_

_Welcome to the family_

Teddie seemed to quickly and loudly run in front of us. He needed to lead this mission, at least until we got to Yukiko. That way we knew were to go if it took more than one day!

_Hey_

_There's somethin' missin'_

_Only time will alter your vision_

_Never in question, lethal injection_

_Welcome to the family_

I started to kick my feet out in front of me swinging the bat a little bit as I started to spin a bit while singing. Yu suddenly recognized the song… even though it was and English and did his best to sing along with me. Yosuke just sighed and put his headphones on to block out our singing.

_Not long ago you'd find the answers were so crystal clear_

_Within a day you find yourself livin' in constant fear_

_Can you look at yourself now?_

_Can you look at yourself?!_

_You can't win this fight_

Me and Yu just stopped singing at this point, because one, I tripped and fell and two, he started to laugh at our failed attempt to sing the song. I knew that today was going to be a long day, just not as long as it turned out to be for me.

* * *

Yukiko's Castle

"Um," my eyes widened as they fell upon the castle that had appeared on the Midnight Channel. "I'm remembering why I had trouble sleeping last night… Guys, maybe we should bring a cut out of a prince, ya know lure her out of the castle."

"I don't think it's gonna be that easy…" Yosuke sighed as he looked at one of the statues outside of the castle. "Hey Ted, you're positive that no one's behind a camera for that bizarre midnight program?"

"Program…?" Oh my god the way he said program made me realized he had no freaking clue what that world meant!

"Quick!" Everyone turned their attention back to me. "Give this bear a dictionary!"

"Maybe people on your side can see stuff in this world." Teddie just over shot my question, maybe he didn't hear me. Oh, well there was no way in hell I was gonna repeat myself. "It might be that. And I told you before! There's only me and Shadows here! There's no 'camera stuff going on. This world has been like this from the beginning."

"What beginning?" I titled me head as I presented the new question to our bear-y out of the lope bear. "Your beginning, my beginning, the big bang beginning, twentieth century beginning? World War two beginning?"

"I dunno…" Teddie just looked at me with his huge ass eyes. "Can you guys explain everything about your world?"

"Well," I put on my best impression of a college professor. "In the beginning of time- quick there's no time to explain!"

I was probably looking like an ass right now, but I was having a blast! Though Teddie's explanation did pose a really good question that Chie voiced. "Well… is that really what's happening? Are we really looking into this world? Because the first time Yukiko showed up on that channel was before she disappeared. Doesn't that seem off?"

"Unless," I was serious now, I had actually that about this, but I needed to see a shadow for myself to get my answer. "N-never mind! Though some of the stuff she said didn't seem like her from the little time I got to talk to her, like 'get a harem' god I'm still shaking a bit."

Chie nodded. "You're right; I mean Yukiko was also saying things like 'score myself a hot stud?' That's not like her at all!"

Teddie seemed confused when Chie finished her sentence. "'Score?' 'Stud…?'" I made a horrible discovery at that moment. _Oh god! He is like a little kid who repeats everything that they hear!_

"Yeah," Yosuke spoke up with us as well; it seemed for how retarded he was earlier, he was actually on the same page as us, so he was smarter than I was giving him credit for. "I couldn't believe it either… Yukiko-san would never say anything like that. I wonder… is this kinda like happened to me last time…?"

"What did it say!?"

"You still don't need to know!"

"There's a lot of stuff I still don't get." Teddie sounded like he had some confidence in himself suddenly! "But after hearing your story… I think that 'program' happens because of the person who appears on it. Or something like that…"

"Dude," I was so confused that I sure that if a purple elephant on a pink seal were riding a unicycle along a red hippo's back I would have understood it more than that statement. "That makes no sense, are you saying that Yukiko made that show?"

Chie suddenly got worried for a moment. "Hey do you feel Yukiko's presence from inside?"

"I'm pretty sure." Teddie smiled a little as thought about his next words. "So, um what's this 'scoring with a hot stud' thing…?"

"Yukiko's here…" Chie stated that like it was the plain truth and nothing but the truth, which was actually right, but still… "I'm going on ahead!"

The moment those words left her mouth we all started to freak out, I even went into a coughing fit so hard I had to wait a moment to regain my breath. Yosuke tried to grab her attention, which it clearly failed because she just ran ahead anyway. "Hey, wait! Don't go alone!"

"_Goddamnit Chie!"_ I started to ran ahead as well, they guys tried to grab my attention, but I just ignored them, Chie was my main objective at the moment. "_If you die on me I'm going to kick your ass Chie Sotanaka!"_

I could kinda see her ahead of me and that's also when I saw them for the first time. Shadows, some of them looked like giant mouths, others like tables with mask, hell I even saw a glove. Some of them where lying on the ground as thought Chie had kicked them. I pulled up my bat and went into a slide on my feet as I swung the bat as hard as I could smacking it into the head of a smaller shadow, sending it flying into a wall. The other shadows noticed this and started to close in around me. "_Shit! Not good!_"

Just before one of the mouth thing got a hold of me a large spear slammed into its side and the thing exploded into a cloud of purple clouds. I noticed a creature that owned the spear and a mask on, It also had on a long black trench coat and clawed hands with bladed feet. "Izangai!"

I heard Yu's voice screw as he commanded his persona, it was shadowing some of his own movements, Izangai lifted its free hand as more of the mouths flew towards it, finally Yu gave the command. "ZIO!" With that Izangai closed its fist as lightening came out of nowhere striking the Shadows and forcing them to explode. I was in shock for a moment as Yu dismissed his Persona and ran up to my side. "You okay!?"

"M-m-m," I was dumbfounded; Yu and Yosuke had a power like that! "Maybe you two should have done this alone…."

Yu smiled at me, shaking his head. "No, we do this together or not at all!" I smiled at him; at least he didn't hate the persona-less.

"Yeah," I looked ahead as Yosuke slid to a stop next to us. "Chie ran ahead, I know that we're here for Yukiko, but I am not gonna leave her just because she wants to save her best friend."

"You two really are getting close." Yu put his hand on my shoulder, my cheeks got red with embarrassment.

"I told you that we just met less than a week ago!" Yu laughed again as Yosuke smiled evilly at me. "Look, I'm gonna get everyone out of her! No one is gonna die while I'm here, I'll bet my life on it!"

They both nodded and we started to run down the halls of the castle. Shadows where around every fucking corner, god it was like they were playing pica-boo with us! Damn shadows about gave me a heart attack, still the three of us got into a pretty good groove. Yosuke would knock the shadows in the air with his Persona that looked like a ninja frog in a jump suit, then Yu would shock them, any that survived I would start playing whack-a-mole with their faces! After a while we came to a stair case. "G-give me a moment. God, so many fucking shadows!"

"Maybe you should head back." Yosuke, that idiot was still trying to get me to go back to the entrance.

"W-what," I stood back up pointing my bat at him again. "And let you g-guys take all the glory! You must be insane!"

Yu nodded as he slowly started to climb the stair, Yosuke slowly followed, just before I got a chance to start climbing again, Teddie shot right past me! Where the fuck did he come from! Just what the fuck did I get myself into… One the next floor, there was a large door no more than ten feet from where the stairs where. "Well, if this doesn't say end game, I don't know what does, I mean just look at the size of this freaking door!"

Yu and Yosuke looked just as dumbfounded as me. So it was safe to assume that Yosuke's shadow didn't get an awesome door, figures though. Teddie pointed at the door as though it was important, and again go figure. "There she is! Chie-chan is in there!"

My eyes widened, great Chie managed to lock herself behind the biggest fucking door in the damned world! Yet I quickly ran to the door and started to pull on it, Yu and Yosuke just looked at me like I was a dumbass. "You guys can help at any time!"

"Kreed," Yu walked next to me and put his palm on the door. "You know they push open, right?"

My eyes widened to a point that shouldn't have been possible, god I must have looked like a moron! Still leaning away from the door I let go to face palm only to hit my head on the floor. God it is hard to be epic when you're literally tripping all over the place! Yosuke laughed until I tapped him in the stomach holding my baseball bat, at which I slammed into his foot and as he brought his head down, I forced the bottom of the bat up! Yu wasn't even paying attention as he easily pushed the door open. Teddie just stared at me and Yosuke on the ground. "Soooo, is this scoring with a hot stud?"

"Say that again," me and Yosuke gave Teddie a death glare. "And we will beat the stuffing outa you!"

"Guys!" Yu finally got our attention bowing to the now fully open doors with Chie just standing there in the middle of, I wanted to say a ball room, but those were bigger and nicer than this small circular room… "We can proceed!"

I scrambled to my feet as I ran into the room Chie seemed like she didn't even know we were there. "Chie! Thank god you're okay! Chie… HEL-lo, Chie Sotanaka…"

The guys (and Teddie) quickly followed me into the room, they had noticed that I was getting NOWHERE with trying to grab Chie's attention. That's when out of nowhere I heard a familiar voice, Yukiko's… "She said that red looks good on me…"

"What da FUCK!?" That was the only thing that could come out of my mouth at that moment. I could tell Yukiko wasn't in the room, but we could definitely still hear her. Yosuke being, well Yosuke apparently couldn't tell Yukiko wasn't in the damn room!

"Yukiko-san!?"

"I hated my name…" Yukiko's voice continued to resonate around the room. "Yukiko… 'Snow…'"

"Hey!" I started yelling at the disembodied voice, yep I had hit the totally fucking insane marker! "What's wrong with snow!?"

"Snow is cold and it melts quickly… It's transient… worthless…" I groaned at the v- Yukiko's voice… so what that's make it's so fun, we treasure stuff like that as humans, even though it can be annoying at times, everyone is happy at least when in stops snowing and they can go and have fun in it. "But it's perfect for me… Apart from inheriting the inn, I'm worthless… Still… Chie told me that red looks good on me."

"That might be taking things a little far." I rubbed my head with bottom of the bat. Yosuke seemed to understand what was going on a little be- okay okay, he completely understood what was happening and I had no clue!

"Are these… Yukiko-san's inner thoughts?" I raised an eyebrow at him.

"So what, we all just became telepathic?"

"No," Yosuke shook his head. "I remember hearing Saki-senpai's too…"

Teddie decided to drop a pretty important piece of information on us all of a sudden… "Yeah. This castle is probably here because of this Yukiko person."

"Thank you Teddie!" I rolled my eyes. "King of the philosophers!"

Apparently Yukiko loved to beat herself up, god if I ever had an excuse to yell at someone… this was it! "Chie was the only one who gave my life meaning… She's bright and strong, and she can do anything… She has everything that I don't… Compared to Chie, I'm… I'm…"

"Okay that's it!" I threw my bat to the ground for the moment and quickly picked it back, w-well it would be stupid if I left it here and kept charging threw the castle… wait no, STORMING the castle, YES! "I've got a few things I gotta say to Yukiko-san now… _Wait did I just use an honorific, meh._"

"Chie protects me…" Yukiko was getting into some pretty personal stuff now, I thought about plugging my ears, but I thought about it and the more stuff I heard the easier it would be to tell what I wanted, besides you just couldn't stop listening. "She looks after my worthless life… And I… I don't deserve any of it… Chie is so kind…"

With that the random thoughts of Yukiko segment of the show came to a close, yet it led into my least favorite memory of my life, seeing what a shadow could become… Chie was still absorbed in the thoughts of her best friend that she had heard. "Yukiko, I-I…"

"Hey Chie," Placed my hand on her shoulder to try and comfort her. "You oka-"

"'Chie is so kind,' huh? What a joke." I jumped when I heard the next voice, it was distorted but you could clearly tell whose it was. I thought I was hearing things until a figure appeared out of the shadows. Chie was more surprised than anyone else as another version of her came out of the shade, it looked just like her, only it had a dark aura and last I checked, Chie's eyes were brown, not demonic yellow, still I had to think _DAMNIT WHERE'S A CROSS WHEN YOU NEED ONE, BEGONE DEMON, HELLO CINNAMIN ROLLS! Wait, focus evil Chie, and focus on waiting to attack her!_

"Wh-what…!?

The guys (and Teddie) must have known what it was because they were the least surprised by the second Chie's appearance, which only made me believe that this was a shadow. "Oh man… Is that…!?"

"It's just like Yosuke!" Yu just nodded in agreement with Teddie still waiting for a moment to attack. "She lost control over her suppressed self! Now it's a shadow!"

Ding ding, we have a winner! I freaking knew it, now my theory of the Midnight Channel was closer to being proven! Shadow Chie just ignored us, it was like it wanted Chie to hate it, as it laughed at Yukiko's pain. "Are we talking about THAT Yukiko!? She says I'm protecting her!? She says she's worthless!" It laughed at its own joke, which made me face palm there was nothing about this that was funny! "That's how it should be, right?"

"Wh-what're saying?" Chie had forgotten I was there and was more worried about the girl in front of her.

"Chie," was desperate to try and get her attention, I mean after all, her shadow was doing what people did to me. Make you hate yourself and just give up. "Don't listen to her!"

Before Chie could even look at me her shadow opened its bitch mouth again. "Yukiko's sooo good looking…" I still thought that there was someone better looking. "Sooo fair-skinned…" What the hell does that even mean!? "Sooo feminine…" So what girls like Chie where awesome, most of the time. "She's the one all the guys drool over." I face palmed now, dear freaking god! Not HIGH SCHOOL GIRL DRAMA! LORD KILL ME NOW! "When Yukiko looked at me with such jealousy… Man, did I get a charge out of that…" Okay this girl had some ENVY problems; well at least her shadow couldn't change its shape to anyone or anything it wanted to… "Yukiko knows the score. She can't do anything if I'm not around… I'm better than her… Much, much better!"

Chie was freaking out now, she was denying everything that her Shadow was talking about. Come on, every high school girl thinks that about their friends every now and then. "No! I have never thought that!"

Yosuke was so confused for what to do that he turned to Yu for the answer. "Wh-what're we gonna do?"

"Hey!" I yelled at all three of them. "Dumbasses! Protect her!"

They all nodded and run up to Chie, only for her to turn and yell at us. "N-no, don't come near me! Don't look at me!"

I snapped. "CHIE CALM THE HELL DOWN! Remember this morning!"

"B-but, no," her shadow had already messed with her head to much, it had won… "No, this isn't me!"

Yosuke and Yu suddenly looked scared. "W-wait, stupid! Don't say anything else like that!"

"Yosuke!' I ran up to him and smacked him on the back of his head.

"Wh-what was that for!?"

"You don't yell at someone who is having a mother fucking mental break down!"

Chie's shadow seemed so amused with our bickering that it started to laugh, but of course put on the straw that broke camel's back. "That's right. I'm the one who can't do anything alone… I can't win as a girl, let alone as a person… I'm pathetic. But Yukiko… She depends on me… That's why she's my friend… I'll never loosen my grip on her… She's too important to me."

"No…" Chie looked close to tears, her Shadow had now just managed to piss me off. "That is not how I think of her…"

"I've had enough of this!" I started to turn and run at Chie's shadow. "Shut your damn mouth!"

"So, you're just gonna turn your back and deny me again? But things are different now. When the time comes… I'll be the one left standing. You won't mind, right? I'm still you!" I was almost within swinging range when it happened. Chie denied her Shadow as my bat was mere seconds from flattening the bitch's face!

"Shut up! You're… You're not me!" A black aura started to surround the Shadow as it reached out and knocked my bat out of my hand. It was laughing hysterically like it just took over the world, and for all I knew, it had… Yet as it took its final form, it shot out a shock wave that threw me into the closest wall. I bashed my head and almost got knocked out. Just before Chie collapsed, but not before worrying about me. "Kreed!"

The guys ran in front of Chie to block her from her shadow. Which, OH MY DEAR FUCKING GOD IT WAS SCARY! The thing was on top of three pale versions of Chie with spiked yellow hooker boots long black bladed hair, yellow undergarments, not very appealing when they are worn by something trying to kill you. It had upon its head a yellow freaking stalker mask with a red smiley face on it. Its weapon of choice, the longest fucking whip I have ever fucking seen! "I am a Shadow… the true self… What do you guys think you're doing? Trying to defend the 'real' me? Then you're gonna pay the price!"

"SHUT YOUR BITCH FACE BEFORE I WHACK-A-MOLE IT!" I yelled from my spot against the wall, I could tell that nothing was hurt; I just hurt like a bitch. Yet as luck would have it, my baseball bat was blasted near me in the shock wave. Yosuke and Yu had summoned their Persona's already and where trying their best to beat the every loving shit out of Chie's shadow. Lightning and wind flying everywhere, the wind actually knocked the shadow to its, well one set of its knees, Yu and Yosuke charged in and a large white cloud appeared where they were kicking the shit out of Chie's Shadow, they got kicked out of it a few times. Teddie was telling what to hit it with, like he could smell the weaknesses of the shadows. Still the shadow seemed preoccupied with the guys, so I grabbed my bat and army crawled along the ground.

The fight started to go bad as I was about halfway to Chie's shadow when it hit Yosuke with so lightning knocking him to the ground. Yu tried to help him up when the bladed tentacles of hair smashed into his side, knocking him to the ground. That's also when the Shadow noticed me, it used it's hair to bring me up to its face. "What do you think you're doing!?"

"Oh, you know just WHACK-A-MOLING YOUR FACE!" I smashed the bat into the shadows face as hard as I could, which made it let go of me as it grabbed the spot where the bat hit. I took this chance to stand up and line up a shot at the first pale Chie's knees. I swung the bat so hard that I not only swept the shadow's legs out from under it I also broke its knees.

"GAH!" The shadow was in very obvious pain at this point. So walked over to its head again.

"Hi," I lined up one last swing until I noticed one of its tentacles of hair was dangling over Chie.

"Now," The shadow laughed threw its pained breaths. "It's her or me, which gets to live, so choose!" At that moment Chie had struggled to her feet. I quickly made my choice as I choice pretty quickly as I dropped my bat and ran for Chie, just as her shadow started to drop the blade, if I wasn't fast enough, it would impale and kill Chie! I luckily made it in time and pushed her out of the way as the blade now pushed in front of me, yet it still sliced down my shoulder.

"_FUCK!_" I was in some pain, enough to make me yell, but I could still move! "Yu, Yosuke! End this bitch, NOW!"

Yosuke and Yu nodded as they got back to their feet and summoned their personas at the same time. "ZIO!"

"GARU!"

"CLEAVE!"

"BASH!" those were the four attacks I heard as their personas' attacks just ripped through the shadow as it withered in pain. Suddenly the shadow lost a lot of mass as a black cloud of smoke shot off of it, and it reverted to its original form. "Alright! Way to go Partner!"

Yosuke and Yu high fived as I sat there still in some pain, only now I could kinda feel some blood starting to drip out of the wound. I managed to get up and run over to Chie. "Chie! Are you alright?"

"What happened…?" Chie asked as she looked up and noticed her shadow. "What's the matter…? Got nothing to say anymore?"

"Chie," Yu shook his head at her. "Don't, if you continue to deny it…"

"B-but…"

I smiled and patted her on the shoulder. "It's fine, if these three idiots don't get it, I do. Everyone feels envy towards their friends at least once."

"Kreeds right…" Yosuke sighed and looked at the ground. "I went through the same thing."

"Seriously," I turned back to Yosuke. "What did it say!?"

"IS THIS REALLY THE TIME!?"

"Chie," I looked back at her. "It doesn't matter what other people think about you, and you know that I know this one more than anyone here. Yet, you just need to think about the things that make you, you!"

Yosuke sighed. "Everyone has a side like this."

Chie suddenly looked sad, yet she turned to her shadow with determination. "Yeah… I kinda get it now. You are me… A side of me I couldn't forgive… That I tried to ignore… But you still exist. You're a part of me…"

Chie's shadow and just nodded at her, before being enveloped in a beautiful blue light, it changed form again, only this time it had a long white helmet that you could see two eyes in. She wore a yellow jump suit and an armored skirt. Instead of a whip it had a double sided ninjinta, I was in awe. This was one of the most amazing things I had ever seen. I heard Chie whisper her new persona's name. "Tomoe…"

"I… Um," Chie seemed flustered over something, and I think I knew what it was. "It's true that part of me feels that way… But I wasn't lying about being friends with Yukiko…!"

Yosuke chuckled slightly. "Like we didn't know that already."

The moment Yosuke finished his sentence, Chie fell to her knees, scaring the crap out of me, yet when I went to help her, pain shot through my shoulder. My shirt was starting to get stained with blood now. "Ow! That still hurts!"

"H-hey Chie!" Thank you Yosuke for freaking ignoring me asshole! Yet Chie still just wanted to press onward.

"I'm okay… Just a little tired…"

"Chie," I grabbed her attention and her expression turned from pained to shock to concern in less than ten seconds. "I need to go home, don't you even think of interrupting me, you look like you just ran three marathons, so you need rest. So don't try and fight with me missy!"

"I bet," Yosuke wrapped his hand around his chin in thought. "You can use the same we have now." Chie looked shocked at this bit of information. "Hey Yu, what should we do?"

"We should go back for the day." Yu knew what was going on and what needed to be done.

"Yeah," I nodded my head. "After all, Chie could use the rest, and I don't think I'm gonna be up for a fight any time soon."

"I-I never said I needed a break!" Chie blasted through our concerns for her and forgot that I was injured. "I… can still keep going…"

"It's not that you think you can't," Yosuke tried to talk her down from her high horse. "But just look at Kreed, if you continue on we might be alright, and we might save Yukiko, but it could very well be at the cost of someone's life."

"Which is what we are trying to avoid!" I pointed out in a jokingly manner, just trying to lighten the mood.

"B-but Yukiko's still in here!" Chie tried to get to her feet, only to fall back to her knees. Teddie ran in front of her to try and stop her.

"Don't overdo it!"

"Chie," I put my hand on her shoulder. "Now that you have the power, you can fight with the guys. It would be best for everyone to rest for the night and regain their strength."

"B-but," Chie was beginning to get desperate for any reason to go and save her best friend. "If those were Yukiko's true feelings, I need to tell her something. I'm not as strong as she thinks! It's because she was with me… Because we were always together, I was able to act that way. If we weren't, I'd…"

I looked up at Yosuke and he nodded at me. "Look Chie, you can tell her that tomorrow, when we save her, and besides do I have a reason to lie to you?"

"Yes," Chie just had to put it bluntly. "But what about the shadows!?"

Smiled a bit, she had something I always wanted, but I knew we had to get her out of here for the day. "I don't think Shadows attack normal people, or Personaless, unless provoked!"

"The Shadows only attack when the fog lifts here." Teddie was trying to back up my argument, so was Yosuke, I think he knew what the answer to his question was, he just wanted Chie to hear it.

"So Yukiko-san will be safe until then, right?" Teddie nodded at Yosuke's question.

"I'm positive." Me and Chie were both confused, but I thought it'd be best for her to question this logic.

"Why…? I don't get it…"

"Teddie told us that the weather here is the opposite or our own world." I was surprised that Yosuke spoke up explaining this information. "When it fogs over in our world… That's the day it lifts here, and that's when the Shadows attack their victim."

"So," I was grinning brightly. "If we leave for the night, she'll be fine. After all, that's what happened for the announcer and Saki-senpai, _Might as well._"

"You mean…" Chie was shocked at this _shocking_ revelation that had been brought upon her. "They were killed by their other selves?"

"The fog usually appears after it rains." Yosuke was now just trying to console her of her fears now. "But it's been sunny lately. I don't think it's going to rain anytime soon. Don't worry so much. We'll check the weather forecast first thing when we get back."

"Or just come back tomorrow!" I pointed a finger in Yosuke face, which shot some pain through my shoulder. "Crap that hurts still!"

"Kreed," Chie looked back at me with concern. "Alright… let's get back; Kreed really needs to go to a hospital now." The guys started to walk a head of everyone else, just in case if there were any shadows on the way back, Teddie and me helped Chie to her feet. "I'm sorry about before… I shouldn't have rushed in like that by myself…"

"Not really," I smiled as I took her arm and wrapped it around my shoulder to help her stand. "I rushed in with you."

Yu and Yosuke smiled at each other before turning back to Chie. "No worries. We're definitely gonna save Yukiko-san… Right?"

I shot my arm up into the air. "HELLS YEAH!"

Chie smiled for a moment before replaying. "Right!"

With that we started to leave the castle. "H-hey Kreed, I'm sorry, your arm… it's all my fault. If I hadn't denied my Shadow…"

"It's fine," I smiled as we continued down the stairs. "Think of it as us being even now."

* * *

Entrance of the Shadow World

"I… I'm feeling even worse than the last time I came in here…" Chie looked even paler than when she had gotten her Persona. "My head feels like it's gonna split open… Are you guys okay?"

"Oh," I had kinda forgotten about the fog with these glasses being freaking awesome! "She doesn't have a pair of glasses… Crap, now it's really starting to hurt!"

"Oh yeah…" Please tell me she didn't just notice that the guys were wearing glasses… "What's with those glasses? Did your eyesight go bad?"

Oh. Dear. God, I may have friends for once, but they ain't all that bright… "Man… You didn't notice until now? How panicked were you…?"

Teddie suddenly spoke up. "Tum de dummm! I got a pair ready for Chie-chan, too." Teddie pulled the glasses out of nowhere and handed them to Chie.

"Dude," I raised an eyebrow at the colorful bear. "Where did you pull those out of!?"

"I just made them…"

"Cool."

Chie put the glasses on and was instantly amazed at the yellow framed glasses. "Whoa! What the-!? This is awesome! It's like the fog doesn't exist! Huh… so that's the trick. I was wondering how you guys could see where you were going. Hey, is it alright if I keep these?"

"Fo' sho!" Everyone groaned at Teddie's attempt to try and be shocked.

"Never say that again," Pain suddenly shot through my shoulder. "_Shit!_ That hurt, hey guys I need to get to hospital… and fast!"

"Crap that's right!" Yosuke looked around quickly. "Really quickly! Yu would you mind being our leader?"

Yu just shrugged for a moment. _SPEAK DAMN YOU NARUKAMI!_ "Sure."

"Good, I'm more of the advisor type." Yosuke smirked at Yu, for a moment, and then Chie smiled softly.

"I'll feel better with you as our leader."

"What the hell? I'm cool with it, now can I please leave now!? My shoulder is killing me!" Everyone nodded, so I finally left the TV world with Chie still over my shoulder.

* * *

Time Change: Daytime to Evening

"Man! This is awesome!" I was jumping around and dancing, pretty much just making an ass out of myself! Chie was smiling again even though she was incredibly tired, I felt good knowing that I could make her smile, I don't know why but I just made me smile back! We stopped at the hospital first and got me fixed up. Now I was walking her to her house, that way I could make sure that she didn't faint or collapse. "I can't believe I can already move again! Though that nurse did kind of scare me…"

Chie chuckled quietly as we continued walking. "H-hey Kreed, thank you for saving me today…"

"Huh?" I looked at her as I bent my back to look at her. "Oh! It was no problem… I-I could let anyone die. Especially you… b-but, still there is no need to thank me!"

Both of us got a little red at that moment. Chie smiled again until she noticed her house was close now. "Well, still… Thank you Kreed. I'll see you tomorrow!"

I smiled at her, and did a slight bow. "Good night Miss Sotanaka, we will definitely rescue Miss Amgai tomorrow, of that there is no doubt in my mind. So once again I bid you a lovely evening."

Chie smiled as she slowly walked to her house, it took a moment, but I stayed there until she vanished inside of her house. "Man, I must look like a stalker at the moment."

With that, I turned and headed for my own home. I knew that Chie was gonna get some sleep tonight. I just didn't know about me…

* * *

_**Few... Sorry I literally was about to post this chapter when my laptop lost its interent connection! And I did copy paste option and just typed the last 1,000 words there about 12:15 at night! So here it is now! Hope you enjoyed and enjoy the rest of the chapters to come! Feed back is very much welcome!**_


	7. Chapter 7: Birdcage & a Bullet for You

April 18, 2011

Forecast… Sunny

"Called you for what!?" Yu, Yosuke and I were near my desk (CLAUSTORPHOBIA!) just talking about random stuff that was going on. When Yu suddenly said the King Moron had called into the shopping district… AT NIGHT!

"Just to give me my school jersey…" Yu had a look of slight fear as he recalled the events that had happened last night. "I still don't know why…"

"That," Yosuke also seemed scared for the moment. "Is just scary!"

"Agreed," I sighed as my mind wondered to a subject that had been on my mind all night. "I wonder if Chie is okay…"

"Yeah," given the events of yesterday we all felt bad. "Too much stuff happened yesterday. I hope she's back to her usual self… Well if she's not, I'm sure King Whack-a-mole can cheer her up."

I glared at Yosuke, if looks could kill, Yosuke would have just disintegrated at that exact moment. "You know… I know ten different ways to kill someone without, I will have to wait for winter, after though… that's the coolest one!"

Yosuke looked like he was about to run for his life when the door slid open. Revealing a calm looking Chie, she looked over at us and calmly walked over to us. "Oh, mornin'."

"Yo," I smiled as I put my hand up to my head like I was about to do a military salute, only with two fingers, and then I extended my hand doing the piece sign. "Sup?"

Chie just smiled. "Nothing really…. Actually, um… Thanks for everything yesterday. It's kinda embarrassing ya know… You three were right there to see my hidden feelings and…"

I was still smiling at her, man she matured fast. "Not like it was anything bad."

"They were still 'hidden' for a reason," Chie sighed looking at the ground. "I didn't want anyone to know I felt that way…"

"I can sympathize, still," I turned to Yosuke with an evil grin. "What'd it say!?"

"Will you drop it!?" Yosuke started to pinch his forehead, I was annoying him to no end… MISSION ACCOMPLISED. "Oh, I nearly forgot! None of that happened when Yu's Persona awakened, huh?"

"I remember this story!" I had to give it to Yosuke; he knew how to deflect a conversation to his advantage. "Nice save by the way…"

Chie just seemed so surprised by this new revelation that Yu never faced his Shadow… I don't know why it didn't surprise me the first time I heard the story. It just seemed like he had nothing to hide, like all of his cards were already on the table. "Oh? So nothing happened for you? I gotta agree that you seem like a pretty open guy. There's a funny air about you…"

"What do you mean funny?" I raised an eyebrow, he was the new kid, of course there was something weird about him!

"I dunno," Chie just shrugged at me then turned back to Yu, I, for some odd reason felt a little angry that Yu was getting the attention and not me. "I guess that's what draws people to you, or something like that."

Yu smiled, it looked like he was trying to pick his words carefully… "You falli-Want me to bare it all?"

Amazing save by Yu Narukami! S- wait! What!? I went into a coughing fit at that moment. Chie flinched back about five steps. "GOD NO! I don't need to go even blinder than I already am!"

"Wha-Hey, wh-what're you talking about?"

"Don't do it! You'll get arrested again!" With Yosuke comment, the heavy atmosphere disappeared as was replaced with all of us laughing to our hearts content. A smile was still present on my face as things died down after a few minutes.

"Anyways," Chie suddenly got determined again, she knew what had to be done now. There was no way she wanted to wait either. "What's most important right now is to rescue Yukiko."

"I hear that!" I pointed a finger toward the ceiling. "If another body shows up, I can tell you now that it will be the killers! I'm not letting someone innocent take a fall like that!"

With that the bell rang and Yosuke seemed scared of the bell at that moment. "Oh crap, I still haven't gone to the bathroom!"

"Dude," I smacked my forehead. "You held it in for like… five hours and you're complaining about it now!?"

Yu walked over to his desk leaving me and Chie near our desk. I grabbed my sketch pad and slapped it dead center in the middle of my desk. "Hey, um…"

"What's up?" I looked up at Chie, to this day, I could have sworn that she was blushing slightly. No matter what she says. "Something wrong?"

"N-no, just," Chie took a deep breath so that she could continue talking. "Th-thanks for saving me… more than once yesterday… Yosuke's cool and all, Yu still has the air about him, but… There really is something different about you."

"Is it that the hat," I was playing it off as a joke, and to get attention away from my cheeks, as they were starting to feel hot. "Or the way I act… I got it! It's because I'm insane!"

Chie started to laugh, I was glad to see her happy again, too much stuff had happened since the day I got here to Inaba, I was surprised none of us were in a mental institute yet! "No, it's not that hat, I just feel like you won't let me down"

"W-well," I was now pulling my uniform up to hide my cheeks. "At least you feel that way. Still we'll save Yukiko soon…"

"Yeah!"

* * *

Time Change: Early Morning to Afternoon

"This should be good!" I whispered to Chie as the P.E. teacher stood in front of the class. "He is really gonna try and do a lecture?"

"Yeah," Chie sighed, she knew what was about to happen. This was now English class, not like the school even had an English teacher, no one ever applied for the post, so they just asked Mr. Kondo to teach the class. "It's a lecture about English…"

"_Oh, this is gonna be good!"_ I smirked a most evil grin as Mr. Kondo introduced himself.

"Helloooo and good afternooooon, all! My name is Mr. Kondo, you P.E. teacher!" Like we didn't already know that! "But since no one at this school teaches English, I'll be doubling up my roles!" I was trying not to laugh as Mr. Kondo pretty much made an ass out of himself. "Don't be so disappointed. In fact, I've spent some time overseas!"

Not like it would help the students much! "One week of vacation time, to be exact!" I face palmed so hard, I'm pretty sure that the class down the hall heard me do it, yet Mr. Kondo just kept talking. "But that's more than enough teach a class! Hahaha!" Once again, DOWN. THE. HALL! "We'll start with the basics of the basics: the English alphabet!"

I groaned the moment those words exited his mouth… "_This is gonna be a long year…_"

"Richards!" Mr. Kondo startled me so much that I literally fell out of my seat! The rest of the class, except Chie, Yu, and Yosuke laughed (Yosuke giggled! There is a difference!). "The word _alphabet_ comes from the words _alpha_ and what other word?"

"_Beta,_" I said the word so fast that the rest of the class that had no idea how to speak English just stared at me, A.K.A., everyone in the whole damn room except Yu was looking at me. "Is it wrong?"

"No, no, you got it right." With that I nodded as Mr. Kondo continued his lecture, I sat down, Chie still looking at me.

"I'm going to need your help in this class." She gave me puppy dog eyes. I smirked at her; this was my main language so I would end up being asked by everyone.

"Well," I turned back to the front of the class to Mr. Kondo writing on the board. I quickly put in my i-pod. "I don't need to pay attention in this class to pass after all!"

* * *

Time Change: Afternoon to After School

Yukiko's Castle: Floor 5

"Hmhmhm…" Yukiko's voice filled the floor as we continued to ascend the castle, getting ever closer to the top and hopefully Yukiko. Yet every freaking time we heard her say something, I was getting more and more depressed over what had happened to me in my past. Yet I just put on my smile and continued on, until we got the fifth fucking floor! "Ohoooho!"

"I. HATE. THIS. CASTLE!" We had managed to make it three floors higher than the last time we were here. We even found Yukiko's Shadow, which proved my theory; it was the Shadow's we saw on the Midnight Channel. Though I will spare you the details, god I just about went blind when that damned title card came up… I also don't wanna be a "special guest" to something that will transform into some messed up monster! Yet, after all that, the thing that pissed me off the most was none of that stuff! It was this floor that was pissing me off! Every goddamned time we tried to pass a door going to the right of the goddamned square, it would fucking TELAPORT us! It was complete and utter BULLSHIT!

"Shadows incoming!" Teddie warned us from some magic fucking demotion that didn't fucking exist! "Their weak to ice!"

"I got this!" Chie ran in front of everybody as she adjusted her glasses and her tarot card appeared before her. "Tomoe!"

Chie's Persona, Tomoe appeared before everyone and shot ice out of the tip of her double ended ninjinta before slicing the other Shadow in half! "Ha, that was easy!"

"Nice moves Chie!" Yosuke cheered her on as Chie dismissed her Persona, none of us had even been so much as scratched this day, and we all had the energy to keep fighting for a while. "Alright, so now where to?"

"Well," I held out a key with a crown design on the end of it. "We have a master key for the castle! So, basically… Anywhere that will get us to the top of this god forsaken castle!"

"Guys!" Yu was pushing on a door that just wouldn't budge. "This door is locked."

"There's someone in there…." Teddie sounded a little scared at that moment. I quickly ran to the damned door and slammed the key into the slot and turned it, successfully unlocking to door.

"I'VE HAD IT WITH THIS PLACE!" I kicked the door open, much to everyone's surprise and Yosuke's fear, yeah, when I'm pissed, even my poking you can fucking hurt like a bitch! Now imagine if I kicked Yosuke. Unlike like with Chie, there would be nothing left to be cracked! "FUCK THE WORLD, I HATE YOUR DAMNED CASTLE YOU SHADOW BI- HOLY SHIT! That is a big ass, flying suit of armor with a javelin!"

"Kreed are you- WHAT THE FUCK!?" Yosuke ran into the room to freak out just as much as I did when he saw the big shadow. I mean, it was a goddamned KNIGHT ON A FUCKING HORSE! Yet we finally noticed a figure that was standing next to the knight… A Yukiko in a ball gown with yellow eyes and a dark aura around her and a wicked smile, the Shadow bitch just seemed over joyed by our entrance as she FREAKING CHUCKLED AT US! "My Prince wouldn't lose to guards such as this, correct?"

"Gyaaaaaaaah!" Teddie started to freak out on us at this point, yet I figured he would do that at some point in time, still. "I've never seen such a strong one before! I-it's attacking!"

The shadow did some sort of war cry before charging of the four of us, we all jumped out of the way just in time, and the shadow kept on charging, yet it seemed like it couldn't stop in time, as the fact that it just kinda… got stuck in the wall. I started to laugh at it. "H-how… d-does th-that eve-even hap-happen!?"

"Does it even matter!?" Chie quickly summoned Tomoe. "Persona!" Tomoe quickly went to stab the shadow… only for the blade to pass harmlessly under the shadow's helmet. "Wh-what!?"

"Hit the armor!" I yelled out as I ran for the shadow and smacked the side of the thing… only after I swung and my bat when right under the cape of the horse armor. The shadow looked down at me and broke the wall with a single motion. "Um… Hi, t-that's a nice horse ya got there… Guys… please knock him out…"

With that I ran from the shadow, and it started to chase me around the room. "Shit, shit, shit, SHIT!"

With that, Chie, Yosuke, and Yu had their Personas shoot the shadow with three different spells as lightning, ice, and wind blasted the armor, which only made it turn and look at the three Persona users and charge them, only for Yu's Persona, Izangai to start fighting it with its spear. This was kinda like watching a sword fight until Izangai got a good hit in, knocking the shadow to the ground. Yosuke smiled as he turned to Yu. "Let's go partner!"

Yu just nodded his head as the three of them charged at the shadow creating a huge smoke cloud again. "Good answer!" As they were attacking the shadow, I noticed the shadow's helmet on the ground was starting to move toward the smoke cloud. I raised an eyebrow at the helmet, until it started to fly at the shadow's body, to which I stepped in front of it and simply swung my bat at the helmet, sending across the room and out the hole in the wall. With that smoke cloud disappeared and so did the shadow, leaving a key on the ground. "Man… That took forever."

"Yosuke," I glared at him. "Just fuck you. Now, let's grab that key and continue with storming this castle!"

"Hey Kreed," Chie jogged over to my side and talked quietly in my ear. "You okay… you seem a little upset."

My eyes widened, she had brought up a question I really didn't want to answer at the moment. Everything that the castle was having us hear about Yukiko made me feel about my past and how much I hated it. I wanted nothing to do with anything or anyone that I met or did before I came Inaba. "Y-yeah, I'm fine, just thinking how close we are. I mean if you look out the windows, you can see the top of the castle is nearby."

Chie looked at me like she wasn't buying my bullshit; I could lie like a pro as long as you didn't look me in the eyes. "If you need to talk-"

"I said I'm fine Chie!" I didn't want to yell at her, yet I did. "I'm sorry I didn't me-"

"Dude!" Yosuke clearly heard my outburst and was not pleased with it. "What is your problem!?"

"I-I…" I looked at the ground, I really didn't know what was wrong. "I didn't mean to, I'm sorry guys…"

"It's fine," Yu walked by and as he put a hand on my shoulder. "Let's get going, Yukiko is waiting."

"Y-yeah." With that we all left the room and soon the floor, yet we didn't notice that something was no sitting down by the door where we fought the knight.

"_I don't wanna die, I don't wanna die… So you're gonna have to!_" It smiled with a sad grin on it's face as it slowly walked after us. "Show time!"

Yukiko's Castle: Floor 6

"In other words, she's a manager who's still in high school. Now that has a nice ring to it…" The voices just kept showing how much Yukiko really didn't like the inn that she was going it inherited. "Let's see if we can interview her. Excuse me!"

"Shut up!" Man Yukiko had some real anger management issues. Better than being a pycho! Then the rumor kid's voice came up, man she really had some grudges.

"H-hey, Yukiko-san. Mind if I ask you something…? Is it true that announcer's staying at your family's inn?"

"Shut up, shut up!"

"Well," I rubbed the back of my neck. "That is kinda scary for the fact that she wanted to explode in anger!"

"L-let's just get her out of here…" Chie looked at the ground, I put my hand on her shoulder and smiled.

"Nothing to worry about!" She smiled back at me as we walked through the floor.

"G-guys," Teddie suddenly appeared out of god fuck nowhere. "Something's wrong… I can't smell any shadows on this floor…"

"W-what!?" All of us turned to him with a confused look on all of our faces. Yet I continued to talk. "Where the hell did they go? Wait… were they even here to begin with…?"

"I don't know…" Teddie shook his body, which for him is… I guess shaking his head. "Still, be on guard."

We started to walk through the halls of the castle with great caution. The fact that something might have scared shadows away… "H-hold on there are some shadows near the stairs!"

"Oh thank god!" I sighed in relief actually; it was a huge relief for us. That meant that they weren't trying to murder Yukiko yet. Even more to Chie's relief that her friend was safe, still though, we all were actually happy to know there were shadows. "Let's bag em and break em guys!"

We found a few of the hands, the mouths, and some… well, um tables… yeah… I don't even know… Yet we took them out way to easily, all it took was a few well-placed spells and the shadows were history. "So… next floor?" I smiled as I peeked out a window nearby, we were almost there. "It looks like it might be the second to last one!"

"Awesome," Yosuke and Yu high fived, while Chie looked concerned up the next flight of stairs. "We're so close now!"

I started thinking about something though… those shadows looked like they were trying to hide, did we really scare them that much. I didn't think so, because they just attacked us, still… It wasn't really that important unless we ran into whatever scared them that much. So I just shrugged and turned to see everyone climbing up the stairs to the next floor. Just as I started to climb the stairs, I swore I heard someone singing. I shook my head; I must have actually been going crazy! I mean, who in their right god damned minds would follow people into a TV… it just sounded wrong, even being that person, I thought that it was insane! Once I made it to the next I heard Yukiko's voice… again, where the hell was the PA system in this castle, I swear I'm gonna smash it! "Hasn't my Prince come yet? My dear Prince… Please hurry and take me away! Somewhere. To a world where no one knows me…"

Teddie suddenly spoke up from his magic PA system, having vanished again, I guessed he smelt shadows on this floor. "It's close. She's just beyond here!"

"Good," Yosuke smiled as he peeked into a door, and a shadow's hand started to reach for him as he attempted to close it again. "HELP!"

I was still a little pissed at the maze, so… I walked over the door and kicked it open, trapping the shadow behind the door and having Yosuke be dragged along it. "Ow…"

"Now kill it!" I smiled as I smashed the shadow's face in multiple times until it disappeared. "Now then, shall we finally kick the shit out of Yukiko's Shadow!?"

With that we again destroyed every last shadow on the floor easily, like the only ones left were weak and scared ones… which was weird still, we only encountered one tough one, that was a giant beetle… We finally found the stairs and found a door… again not that far from the stairs, and the door was huge. "This is it! It has to be! I mean just look at the damn door!"

Teddie appeared out of nowhere again, scaring the shit out of me. "Huh? This smell… It must be her! She's right behind this door!"

"Woop there it is!" I fist pumped as everyone looked at the door and started to push it open.

"Kreed!" Yu called out to me, snapping me back into reality.

"Oh, right!" With all four of us pushing the door open, we easily entered the room to see Yukiko on her knees in front of stairs that lead to a throne with Yukiko's shadow standing just in front of the throne. "Bingo! Target locked!"

Chie ran right past all of us to see if her friend was still alive. Thank god she was… or Chie might have lost it. "Yukiko!"

"I knew it…" Yosuke and me seemed to have been on the same track after seeing her shadow, but god really! Like we didn't already know this. "There's two of her!"

"Thank you captain obvious," I rolled my eyes as we all took a step closer to the stairs. "So, um… anyone got a damn clue on what to do now… Cause, um he is right…"

Chie rolled her eyes, yet kept her focus on the shadow standing before us. "We crush the fake and save Yukiko, that's what!"

"Oh? Oooooh," Yukiko's shadow grinned as we entered the room, that creepy ass smile that made it seem like we were about to victims of- well anyway! "What's this?"

"The cavalry!" I pointed a finger in the air. "We just finished storming the damn place; now… give back Yukiko so we can LEAVE THIS GOD FORESAKEN CASTLE!"

"Why would I do that?" He shadow started to sway about as though it wanted to dance as well as sing. "When you four princes are here to see me!? My my! Are you the surprise guest who came in late?"

"Kill me now!" I lightly tapped my baseball bat against my forehead as Yukiko's shadow continued down a path of making me gag! "I can't take this anymore!"

"Awwwww…" The shadow started to make a fucking POUTY FACE, WHAT THE FUCK! This is not freaking drama class, plus yellow eyes do not make good puppy dog eyes! "I wish I'd gotten a better look at you!"

"I'm going to vomit…" I gripped my mouth like I was actually about the puke until Chie smacked the back of my head. "Sorry…"

"Why are you sorry little prince?"

"That's it!" with that I walked over to the nearest pillar and started to repeatedly bash my head into it. Yukiko's shadow just continued on with its bitch fest!

"My, it's getting crowded here. Why don't you and I go somewhere else…? A land far, far away…"

"In a time long ago!" I pointed at the shadow grinning evilly. "Star Wars!"

"Where no one knows me, if you're my Prince, you'd take me there, won't you? " The shadow did the finger beckoning thing where you curl the finger back at you so that someone will came closer… I could see that Teddie was getting the wrong idea about all of this. "C'mon… Pretty Please?"

"Oooh." Teddie looked like he had fallen in love, dear god it was creepy. "Is this 'scoring a hot stud!?'"

"You wish…" I pinched the bridge of my nose. God that just sounded stupid, thank god Chie was able to redirect the conversation…

"Four princes…?" Chie was in an offensive position, ready to attack on immediate need. "Wait, does that include me too…?"

This very clearly ticked our dumbass bear off. "Duh! The fourth one's gotta be me!"

Me and Yosuke both just rolled our eyes and in complete sync said… "I seriously doubt that…"

"That never happened," My eyes widened when I realized what just happened. "Okay good, now again, Shadow, shut the hell u-"

"Chie…" The shadow interrupted me mid-sentence and chuckled, god it was like the only thing that it lived for was pi… ss… ing… off… Yukiko… God I was slow! "Yes, she's my Prince… She always leads the way… Chie's a strong prince…"

"Well," I rubbed the back of my head. "This just took a turn for the weird and fucked up."

That got me a quick kick to the balls, straight to the ground I went… Yep, I knew it Chie's kicks fucking HURT! "Or at least, she WAS."

Now the shadow started to sound and look pissed off, like the fact that we even mentioned Chie's existence just pissed it off to no end. Like all it cared about was just trying to get Chie to leave crying. Well, maybe not, but still! Chie was only just confused by the statement dropping her guard for a moment. "Was…?"

"When it comes down to it, Chie's just not good enough!" The shadow was no very clear expressing it's anger at Chie, yet Yukiko hadn't said a word this whole time, I was getting worried; still I was getting more pissed at the shadow insulting Chie more than anything… "She can't take me away from here! She can't save me!"

Chie was about to say something when everyone heard the snap of my bat smacking something, and to see it smash right into the shadow's face, the damn thing didn't even flinch! "DON'T EVER INSULT MY FRIENDS!"

At this moment Yukiko finally decided to try and stand up. "S-stop…"

"Historic inn? Manager training!? I'm sick of all these things chaining me down!" This is what the shadow was waiting for, Yukiko just telling it to stop was partly denying it, she was giving it strength. "I never asked to be born here! Everything's decided for me! From how I live, to where I die! I'm so sick of it! To hell with it all!"

The shadow was getting incredibly anger at this point, you could tell it wanted nothing to do with us anymore, all it wanted was Yukiko. "That's not true…"

"I just want to go somewhere far away…" It had gotten just a little more strength and was just insulting Yukiko by mocking her at this point. "Anywhere but here… Someone, please take me away… I can't leave here on my own… I'm completely useless…"

"Stop… Please stop…" We all knew what was coming, there was no way to stop it, all we could do now was wait and hope for the best.

"I have no hope if I stay, and no courage to leave… So I sit on my ass hoping that someday my Prince will come!" The shadow was making way to many home runs with Yukiko, you could just tell, because of the way it was acting, it knew what to say. "I don't care where we go! Anywhere's fine! As long as it's not here, I don't give a damn! Historical tradition? Pride of the town? What a bunch of bull shit!"

Yukiko was so close to breaking that I could just hear it in her voice. "How dare you…?"

"That's how I really feel. Isn't that right… me!?"

"N-no!" There it was, we had to try and stop her, but we also knew it was too late to do anything, yet Yosuke tried to stop all hell from breaking loose!

"Stop! Don't say it!"

God, it was like no one could hear him when he said that. "No! You're not me!"

"Sooooo," I rubbed the back of my head and sighed. "Who what's to start taking wagers on if people don't listen to Yosuke when facing their shadow… because, he's done zero to two…"

"Is now really the time!?" Yu shook his head as he drew is fake katana, Yosuke grabbed his kunai, and Chie started bouncing from foot to foot. I gripped my bat and swung it a few times, then stood there like I was waiting for a turn at hitting a bat, and the thing I hit earlier finally fell down the stairs, yeah I hit a shadow's helmet. So anyway… Oh yeah! So Yukiko's shadow started to get a dark aura around it as it started to laugh like… like, well like a freaking PYCHOPATH!

"Aaaah!" This is where I again about vomited, god her shadow sounded like it was hav- never mind… "This feels wonderful! It's building… more and more… If this keeps up… I'll… I'll…!"

Then the usual explosion of power happened and a chandelier fell from the ceiling with a… "HOLY CRAP! It's a bird!?"

Yukiko fell to the ground in exhaustion, like the shadow had just drained her of all her strength. Chie noticed this of course and just about ran to Yukiko. I held out my hand to stop her. "If you try, there's a very good chance you'll get smashed!"

"But, Yukiko!"

"Focus on the shadow first!" I was waiting for the shadow to make its first move, that's when I heard Yu say something that just didn't really make sense at the time.

"Change!"

"Change!?" I just raised my eyebrow. "Change what!?"

"I am a shadow…" Of course shadow Yukiko just had to interrupt us at this important moment! "The true self… Now, my Prince… Why don't we dance and make merry together?"

Yukiko's shadow emitted a power the physically generated a new shadow! It was a little blonde doll of a prince. While Yukiko's shadow was now a giant red bird with Yukiko's face and hair… needless to say, creepy as fuck! Chie called out to Yukiko, hopefully, Yukiko could hear her. "Hang in there, Yukiko… I'm right here for you!"

"Oh really…?" The shadow was really getting on my nerves now. "Then I'll make sure to give you plenty to deal with!"

"Shut up!" I picked up the helmet. "Unless you want another helmet to the face!"

With my comment, the rest of the guys summoned their Persona's only this time, Yu, instead of Izanagai had a little Persona, that wore a purple cape and old like witches hat, it had a lantern in its hand and pumpkin head. "Pryo Jack!"

Chie started to send ice spells at the shadow, which just hide in its cage, the guys were waiting until it came out of its cage, I ran up to the little shadow, which tried a few times to stab me, which failed, it was a hell of a lot slower than I was. I successfully smashed its face in; it was such a weak shadow that I killed it after smashing its face two more times. Yukiko's Shadow noticed this, and just smiled, like it didn't even care. Yet, that's when Yosuke got his Persona to knock the cage door open! "Chie go for it now!"

Chie noticed her opening and sent five ice spells into the cage, knocked the shadow to the ground. The guys ran into another white smoke cloud, kicking to shit out of the shadow. Yet when it finished taking that beating it simply just stood back up and seemed a little scared now though, like we were close to beating it! "My prince! My dear prince!"

It emitted the same power as before; only this time… no extra shadow appeared. "Why… Why won't he come…?"

"Because…" I gripped my bat as the shadow started to bitch about its lost prince. "The prince usually saves the girl from the monster, not helping the monster!"

The shadow seemed to take my comment a little too close to heart, as it suddenly turned to me with death in its eyes. It shot off a large wave of flames, I thought I was a goner, until Yu's new Persona flew right in front of me and started to suck all the flames into its lantern!

"Hmph!" The shadow started to growl at all of us. "Looks like I had the wrong idea… You're no princes… Die, you worthless commoners!"

"Not in your life time!" I started to growled at the shadow, trying to keep its attention, still behind Pryo Jack. It was a good thing too, because of that it didn't notice Tomoe near the chain of its cage. "Just because you don't like, doesn't mean that you can just ignore it or, hell even want to get the heck out. It just doesn't work! You can't just wait for your 'prince' to come and save you! You have to work for it! Unless of course you cage collapses on you!"

"What?" With that Chie had Tomoe cut the chain, dropping the cage straight to the floor. The shadow was trapped for the moment, until black clouds shot out from its, um… lifeless corpse, until it reverted back to its human form at which it was standing in front of the cage, how? I don't even have a fucking clue! Chie noticed that against a pillar, Yukiko had started getting up off of the floor. "Yukiko! Yukiko! Are you hurt!?"

"No…" Yukiko had noticed her shadow now, and like Chie, still didn't want to accept it as how she felt. "I'm not-"

"We understand." Yosuke had come to play the role of advisor to those who were trying to accept their shadows, so how it worked. "You're not the only one like that, Yukiko-san. Everyone has something they can't show to other people, or don't want to admit to themselves…"

"Yukiko…" Chie turned back to Yukiko. "I'm sorry. I was so self-centered that… I never understood what you were going through… I'm your friend, and I still… I'm so sorry…"

If we are hoping that I come in and comfort Chie, then you're gonna be disappointed… I was trying not to cry myself, I was thinking about what happened to me earlier in my life… I hated it, I hated my past, and Chie would be the only person I ever told it to. Yukiko seemed to take everything a lot better than Chie had. "Chie…"

"I was always jealous of you, Yukiko." Chie was actually rubbing the tears out of her eyes at this point in time. "You had everything that I didn't… That jealousy was like a wall, and I was so lonely…! I wanted you to need me… But it was me who needed you."

This point, I didn't want anyone of the group to see me, so I walked behind a pillar out of their view, tears were actually streaming down my face. It sucked! Everyone here had what I wanted, and most likely needed… a friend. "I can't do anything right on my own… I've caused so much trouble for Yosuke and the others. If you weren't by my side, I… I wouldn't know what to do…"

"Chie…" Yukiko sounded like she cheered up, which made me realize what was gonna happen soon, so I looked around the side of the pillar to watch Yukiko's Shadow become a Persona. "I never saw the real you either… I was too busy trying to find an easy way out. 'I want to run away'… 'I want someone to save me'… You're right, those feelings are part of me, too. I understand now… You're me."

With the magic words, Yukiko's shadow nodded her head and was enveloped with a bright and beautiful blue light. It quickly transformed into a large figure, it was female and wore a small dress that was white near the bottom and pink from the chest up. It had black legs with pink boots, and it held two large pink flowers that were connected by pink petals. Then as quickly as it appeared, Yukiko's Persona vanished into a tarot card that also vanished, only this time, into Yukiko… who quickly clasped from the exhaustion that Chie had.

"Yukiko!" Chie was the first to run to her side, I looked away for a moment, not wanting to have the others see that I was crying. Yosuke was second to show his worry.

"Are you okay?" Yukiko slowly looked up Yosuke.

"Yes," She tried her best to smile, but it didn't really seem like it to the others. "I'm just a little tired… You all came to rescue me…?"

I could hear Chie's voice cracking as she tried not to cry again. "Of course!"

"Thank you… all four of you…" Yukiko whispered the last part, but I could still hear it. I just shook my head, yeah, not like I cared anyway.

"Four?" Yu looked around for me; I knew he was so I peeked out from the pillar. Yu smiled at me, I guess he thought I was crying cause I was happy for Chie. "No five, Kreed-san helped to."

"Don't even mention it." I could hear Chie start to cry again. "I'm just so glad you're safe…"

Then I heard Yosuke laugh a little. "Right on." As if on cue, Teddie asked the one question, that we all wanted to know.

"So, who threw you in here?" Yukiko sounded more surprised by Teddie that she did scared.

"Huh…? Who are you?" Yep definite confusion in her voice. "Rather… What are you?"

"I'm Teddie!" He seemed way too happy to be introducing himself. "So, who threw you in?"

"I don't know…" Yukiko looked back at the ground, the guys sounded disappointed, while Chie was just happy that her friend was safe. "I think… someone called my name… But my memory's a blur. I can't remember who it was… I'm sorry, um… Teddie."

"No new clues…" Ted was the only persona to voice his disappointment, I'm sure everyone else would have too, if not for being interrupted by someone clapping.

"Good show!" The voice was distorted, but it sounded so familiar that my head shot up to see someone leaning against the door frame. "Next time, someone needs to die though! That way there's one less human in those retarded ass universe!"

The person had on a Yasogami uniform and a grey beanie upon his head, that's when I knew what it was. The dark aura flowed out of the body of the person, it was a shadow, yet I knew who's it was. Standing in the door of the throne room stood a carbon copy of me, my shadow. "W-what!?"

"Oh, don't look so surprised!" It shook it's head, the yellow eyes shown clearly through its glasses. "After all, you were denying me all of today! So what else was I gonna do!? You really are a stupid prick ya know that!?"

Everyone was so surprised as my shadow stood there insulting me. Yet the Persona users got into their fighting stance. "Another one!? Teddie, protect Yukiko!"

Teddie stepped in front of Yukiko, my shadow rolled his eyes. "Yeah, not who you need to protect her form. After all, me over there just wants everyone to DIE!"

"Wh-what!?" Chie's voice showed how surprised she was, her eyes showed concern for me, she looked at me as I was backing up towards the group. "No, he doesn't want that!"

"The fuck do you know about us!?" The shadow grinned evilly. "He never told you, did he!?"

"Sh-shut up!" I was getting scared; I didn't want them to know anything about her! Not the girl that fell trying to save me… the girl I-I killed. "Don't say anything else!"

"Why?" the shadow started to take steps closer to me. "Not like a little bitch like you can do anything to stop me! After all, you never fought back, you let the 'cool kids' beat the ever-loving SHIT out of you! Yet you never said anything, you're just the annoying little rich kid to them, to everybody! There is no one in this world who gives a DAMN about you! That's why you tried to kill yourself… FIVE TIMES!?"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" I grabbed my head and dropped to my knees, he was saying everything I told myself, every time before I attempted to take my life. "You don't know anything!"

"Kreed…" Chie tried to put her hand on my shoulder, I smacked it away.

"Get the fuck away from me!" I wanted to run and hide, Chie knew about my suicide attempts, the others didn't… Yosuke and Yu were surprised.

"H-he, tried to what!?" Yosuke said as he dropped his guard. "No way, d-dude…"

"Shut the fuck up you annoying piece of shit," My shadow just started to laugh at my desperate attempts to hide from the world. "This pathetic excuse for a human being has done nothing hate all five of you, and the world! After all 'you can't see a forest for the tree!' 'No one cares about me! Who could ever care!?' 'I want to whole world to burn in hell, if I don't deserves to live no one else does!' 'Oh, god I killed her…'"

"You don't know a DAMN THING ABOUT ME!" I yelled, I could no longer control myself. "Fuck off, YOU ARE NOT ME YOU FUCKER!"

"That was a little early don't yeah think…" My shadow shrugged as the black smoke came off of him. Yet he started to move his arms over each other and he did, his arms were stripped away until a weird graffiti pattern was left for his arms. "After all, I am the one thing that can never change… No matter how hard you try to run from me, I will always haunt you!"

Then he collected the dark aura in his hand and placed it on his face, it turned his face into a mask that only had the eye holes, after a moment, blood slowly ran out of the eyes. "I am a shadow… The true self… How the fuck can care for the people who never cared for me!"

"Kreed!" Chie, Yosuke, and Yu stepped in front of me to block my shadow from me. "I'm not letting you hurt him!" Chie yelled at my shadow, to which it started laughing.

"Oh, that's rich!" the pattern on its arm changed from that of a claw, to a scythe. "Trying to protect the person whose biggest threat is himself! Still, if I can kill you three first, then there are less people to bother me once I kill him!"

"Shut up!" Yosuke shook his head at my shadow. "Like you know how other people feel!"

"Kreed is out friend," Yu's voice was layered with anger and rage as he summoned his tarot card. "I will NOT let you hurt him! IZANGAI!"

"Jiyaria!"

"Help me Tomoe!" All three of their Persona's appeared and rushed the small shadow, that still stood as tall as me, it just shook its head as Yosuke's Persona was within attacking range, it jumped over the Persona and changed it scythe hand into a mace and slammed it onto the head of the Persona, crumpling it to the ground, Yosuke also hit the ground. "Yosuke! Skull Cracker!"

Tomoe rushed the Shadow, only to be grabbed by its throat, by a large claw that was a mace only a moment ago. "You call this protecting someone!? HA! You couldn't even protect a snail with like this!"

Izanagai slammed its spear into the back of my shadow only for it to vanish in a bit of static and five more to appear around it tying it to the ground. One more appeared in front of it and slammed a sword into its face. Yu started to scream as he held his in pain; Izangai disappeared as Yu fell to the ground. "You people are PATHETIC! Not one of you can stop me! Give me a freaking challenge at least. Oh wait!" It turned to Tomoe and its hands went back to being normal. Chie turned to me dropped to her knees and hugged me, she knew what was going to happen.

"I care for you Kreed." Chie smiled as she held me, I was trembling, my shadow had just defeated two out of three of my friends right in front of me. My shadow held out its hand and shot spikes off of its hand the stabbed Tomoe in so many places that Chie just fell unconscious for the moment. I set her on the ground and looked up at my shadow, I guess that's when I knew I wasn't alone, and I had people who cared.

"If you're me then you're a coward!" I said as I grabbed my bat and walked towards it. "You're right, I do hate the world! I hate myself, I hate people!"

"W-why the sudden change in heart!?" My shadow said as it started to back up, sure Persona's where no problem, but the one person that could end your existence, yep scared shitless. "Doesn't matter though!"

It shot the spikes at me and I just smacked them away from me. Yu started to get up and watch what was happening, he gave Chie and Yosuke some healing items, they all could barely move at the moment, but they watched as I walked to my shadow. "Yeah, I wanted to die because I thought no one cared! Yes, she fell with me, but they never found her, so she's alive, so am I. That's all that matters, yes I'm scared shitless right now! But I still have to beat you myself… After all, you're my past aren't you? The one thing that will never change in anyone's life is their past!"

My shadow was laughing now but I was in swing distance and it was leaning against a wall, only now it was flickering with static, like it was in a weakened state at the moment. "So, you came to me to die!?"

"No," I punched my shadow in the face so hard that it cracked the mask like face it had. It grabbed the right eye where the crack ended and looked at me, it went to cut me down with a scythe as I got into a baseball stance and swung my bat. "I WANNA LIVE!"

There was a sickly crunch under my bat as my shadow's head literally exploded with the force of the blow, it slide down the wall as it started to revert to its human state. Everyone was watching me as I looked at my shadow lying on the floor. "Kreed… we had no idea…"

"It's fine Yosuke…" I smiled sadly at five people looking back at me. "So, you guys say what my past did to me, but it also lead me here, where I met all five of you. I'm not alone any more. Can't believe it took me this long to figure it out though." I rubbed the back of my neck in embarrassment. I turned back to my shadow. "You really didn't last that long ya know… then again, neither did I. You are the reason I hate myself, but you also gave me the five best friends I could ever wish for… Even Teddie and Yosuke are my friends surprisingly."

"HEY!"

"Shut it Yosuke!" I smiled brightly as I looked at my shadow, it was looking right back at me. "I'm just a broken puppet of society, I always did what people wanted me to, until now, I can finally get over it all and live my life. Thanks for being a part of me…"

My shadow smiled and said something before it vanished and became a Persona. "That's why I killed those other shadows." With that it was enveloped into the blue light and it changed shape into a very scary looking puppet, it had the left side of its face smashed in revealing a red eye in the blackness, it wore a cloak that was purple and was badly turn at the bottom to reveal legs that had been stitched together. Its right arm was all ball jointed, even the fingers. Its left arm was cut off just after where it connected to the shoulder. And was replaced with a giant clawed hand holding onto a scythe, there was also a coffin on the Shadow's back. It vanished into a tarot card the vanished into me, I heard its name as it did so. "Puppeteer…"

I smiled as I turned to my friends only to feel like I was falling and then I blacked out. What away to prove how tuff you are… right?

* * *

_**HOLY CRAP FREAKING SNOW! Sorry, but I'm back now! and with an UPDATE; YEAH! Sorry if the dungeon seems rushed, and Kreed's shadow... so sorry if it was rushed, but KREED GOT HIS PERSONA! Now, I bet you guys can't tell me what arcana he is! Well hope you guys enjoyed feed back is welcome and until next Chapter.**_


	8. Chapter 8: Being Socially Linked

_**Sorry that it's a short chapter, still hope you enjoy! Feed back is very much welcome!**_

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April 19, 2011

Forecast… Sunny in the Morning, Cloudy later in the Day

"For the last time Chie," I sighed as I walked to school, Chie trying to literally push me back to my house. "I just didn't eat anything yesterday, so I was already really freaking tired, I'm not gonna die from going to school."

"I don't care!" Chie was actually making me move backwards to my house. "You collapsed! You scared the hell out of us!"

I laughed a little, I knew I scared them, after all when I came too; I was riding on Teddie's head with the guys trying to use healing items and Dia on me. I was fine, until Yosuke dropped me on my head. We were going to question Yukiko and Yosuke dropped me on our way out of the TV, god, if I go to the hospital, Yosuke is paying! "I know, I know… Sorry."

Chie stopped pushing me now. "If you ever scare me like that again…"

"Threat received…" I turned around to look at her; she was looking at the ground. Man couldn't believe that she was beating herself up for this. I put my hand on her shoulder. "Come on, the guys must be equally as worried as you were… After all, they're my friends too."

Chie looked at me with concern in her eyes, yet she understood what had to be done. She sighed and rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment. "Ha… I guess you're right, let's go."

"So anything gonna happen today?" I question as we turned around to walk to school. Chie keeping up with my pace. She gave me a confused glance, I grinned at her. "Is Yukiko feeling good enough to come to school? And anything interesting gonna happen at school today?"

"Oh!" Chie looked like she had found the meaning of life at that moment! "Yukiko will be good enough to come back to school in a few weeks, other than that… um… Oh! The sports clubs are starting to take applicants today, so you gonna join one?"

"No." I almost didn't let her finish her sentence, to be honest, I didn't really like sports. All music and art for me.

"That was fast…"

"I know, I don't play sports. End. Of. Story."

* * *

Time Change: Early Morning to Lunch

"Does the school even have a cafeteria?" It was an honest question, but the guys looked at me like I was crazy. It seemed like a legit question, what the hell was wrong with it? "What? It's an honest question!"

"Of course we do…" Yosuke sighed shaking his head; we were on the roof of the school to eat lunch, why? Fuck logic, that's why. "How hard did you hit your head yesterday?"

"I don't know," I growled at Yosuke. "You tell me… after all, you dropped me! Remember!?"

"I'm going to join one of the sports clubs." Yu interrupted us, most likely to end the hostilities that were about to happen. "Any of you going to join?"

"Nope," I continued to eat at a bowl of instant noodles that sat on the ground before me. "I don't play sports… It's music and art that matter to me, besides, jocks were the number one people you picked on me at my old schools…"

They just looked at me with sad eyes, hey the cat was out of the bag, might as well let it walk around. "Guys! Not a big deal, did we forget what happened yesterday already?"

"No, just…" Chie sighed and looked down. "Didn't think you would talk so openly about it."

"Not really…" I sighed for a moment. "Still, thanks guys, you really did help me yesterday, until Yosuke dropped me on face that is."

We all stopped for a moment, until I started to laugh loudly, it wasn't for any reason of then the irony of my life. Yet it dropped the awkward atmosphere that had enveloped us. Everyone started laugh with me; we did that for a few minutes until we continued to eat. Suddenly I thought of something important… "Hey Chie, how's Yukiko?"

"Hmm," Chie looked up from her bowl with some noodles hanging from her mouth; I had to hold in my laughter again. She quickly finished stuffing the noodles in her mouth and swallowed. "Oh! She's just got a cold from being in the TV world. Other than that, after a week or two of rest she should be fine."

"Oh, wait…" I rubbed the back of my head in embarrassment for a moment. "I already asked this…"

We all looked around for a moment before laughing again. We just continued the conversation with some small talk for a while until we everyone finished their meals and everyone started to go back to class, leaving me and Yu. "Something wrong Yu?"

"No," Yu shook his head and looked me in the eye, which must have been weird for him, because my glasses were starting to fall off. I pushed them back up and he sighed. "You know, if you ever want someone to talk to…"

"Sure," I just shrugged, I liked Yu, and I knew what he meant, I trusted him with knowing my past. So why would I have any problem with letting him know anything about me, and I hardly doubt Mr. Mute would spill any beans. "I don't got a problem with it."

"Cool," Yu smiled for a moment before he gained a look of confusion for second and shook his head. "Well, anyway, we should get back to class now."

"Yeah," I started to walk away before him. I did my salute into a piece sign to Yu and shot into the building. "Good luck at the club meeting!"

I didn't really hear what he said just before the door closed, but I could have sworn he said something along the lines of: "Strength, huh?"

* * *

Time Change: Lunch to After school

"Later Yu," I waved to Yu as he walked to the gym to join the basketball club. I was gonna walk Chie home today, not a big deal, but what the hell was I gonna do, we had to go the same direction! "So Chie" She turned and smiled at me, a goofy smile that she usually wore, but still I couldn't help but think that it looked kinda cute on her. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah," She pumped both her arms as she usually did when she got excited about something. Then her face quickly looked like she was nervous about something. "Actually this is gonna sound weird…"

"Go ahead…" I smiled brightly at her. "I'm listening…"

"Do- do you wanna go with me to the Flood plain?" Chie's face was red with embarrassment. "I uh… I wanna train some…"

"Train for what?" I just titled my head at her. I thought I knew where this was going… I hoped anyway. Chie's face got even brighter for a moment.

"To fight the Shadows!" Chie practically blurted it out as the words left her mouth I started to laugh a little. "Wh-what!? Yu and Yosuke are busy, and Yukiko is sick!"

"I'm not laughing at you," I quickly tried to regain my composer as I smiled down at the brunette before me. "I laughing cause I guessed right… and sure, not like I got anything better to do."

"O-oh," Chie rubbed the back of her head with a smile on her face. "Well let's get going."

* * *

Flood Plain

"This spot looks good," Chie was just exploding with excitement; I couldn't help but smile as we stopped at the flood plain by the water. I actually thought that this was, for once, a "sport" that I wanted to do. "I need to hone my kicking skills, or I won't be able to use them in battle."

I laughed a little bit in jest as I placed my hand on her shoulder. "Trust me, Yosuke can vouch that you don't need to practice your kicks, and if not Yosuke, then is nads surly could!"

Chie laughed for a moment at my jest, I felt good that I could actually make her laugh "We-well, I tried practicing at home… But my mom and dad yelled at me for putting a hole in the shoji…"

My eyes widened at her, I mean, she actually thought that trying to kick anything in a house was a good idea… Wait… oh shit! Now I was the punching bag! Still I grinned evilly. "Thou hast much to learn young grasshopper."

Chie pushed my slightly in jest, she knew I was joking, but still; she laughed at me, er well with me. "I'm being serious! Soooo… Let's train together, No?"

"That's why I'm here isn't," I smiled gently as I stepped in front of her, my hands in my pockets and leaning forward. "After all, I guess I'm more here for the hanging out and helping you out part."

"Yesss!" Chie pumped her arms in her usual excited way. "Thanks Kreed-kun!" Her face suddenly got a lot more serious, I noticed this of course, after all, we were the only people there. "That thing… Y'know?"

"Nope!" I pointed a finger in her face a smile on my face. "I will not until thee lady duos tell thou! So until the madam tellis the weirdo talking weirdly, thou shalt not know, until then!"

Chie smiled slightly before explaining herself, I should have known this moment was coming. "I mean that Shadow that came out of me. I feel pathetic knowing that's another 'me.'"

"Just because you became jealous of your best friend doesn't make you a bad person," I leaned back looking at the sky. Might as well Chie and Yu, I trusted them more than anyone else at the moment. "I had a friend I was jealous of, until the jocks made me believe he betrayed me… Looking back on it now, I guess he had no idea. Still point is, it's nothing to hate yourself for, and to be honest… If someone, doesn't like you for you… then screw 'em!"

Chie giggled for a moment until smiling up at me and pumping her arms again. "Still, it makes me feel like I gotta work harder!"

I smiled and laughed, looking back to the sky, until I leaned back to far, making me start to tip over. "Shit!" Chie reached out to stop me… until she also lost her footing; we tumbled and rolled to a stopped at the bottom of the hill. Chie landed on top of me; this time… it didn't really hurt. But we both turned redder than a tomato! We scrambled to get away for a moment. "S-sorry…"

"I-its fine, you didn't mean to make us fall…" Chie smiled, yet I noticed a small projectile land on Chie's back. I noticed the grass hopper sitting on her shoulder at the moment, I smiled mischievously at her. "Wh-what!?"

"Do you like bugs?" Chie's eyes grew the size of plates as the words left my life, she started to freak out a little bit.

"N-no," Chie shook her head a little, and gulped loudly. "Wh-why!?"

"Young grasshopper," I stood up still smiling. I had no idea what was about to happen. "You have a young grasshopper on your shoulder."

Chie started to freak the hell out, she screamed and jumped to her feet and she ran over to me with her back facing me. "Get it off! Get it off me!"

"H-hold still!" I was trying so hard not to laugh, god I thought it was a little cute the way she flipped out. I gently held me hand in front of the grasshopper, the little guy was a trooper, he wasn't scared of me or Chie flipping out; he just climbed onto my hand, I tapped his back and he flew off away from us. "He's gonna Chie… I never thought you would have been scared of bugs, I mean Shadows seem way worse…"

"Sh-shut up!" Chie puffed her cheeks out at me a moment before calming down and sighing. "I'm not good with anything with thin, jointed legs! Or anything creepy or squirmy! Ack, now I can't get 'em out of my mind! I can't stand those things!"

"I get along," I smiled as I was tracking were the little guy flew off too. I guess I just got along with bugs, because they were unwanted too. "I don't know why, I just do…"

"Yukiko's fine around bugs," She looked to the ground for a moment. "Guess you guys have something's in common…"

"Not really," I smiled as I plopped back onto the ground. "Again, not really my type, besides, there is another girl who is closer that I can think of… and before you ask… No! I'm not tellin' you!"

Chie looked up at me with confusion, yeah, not a surprise to me though. "St-still, I totally lose it around bugs… Kinda funny, huh?"

"You ask me," I smiled for a moment. "I think it's kinda cute."

"Uh, hey…" Chie started to panic after my comment, I couldn't help but laugh. "Wh-what're you saying!?"

"Nothing important," I smiled again; I was actually having a lot of fun that day. "Still, you outa give yourself some more credit where credit is due."

"Huh?" Chie just tilted her head at me for a moment, scratching the top of her head, I knew I had confused her. I just smiled back at her. "Well, all I have to do is think of them as Shadows. Then I'll be able to grab a whole fistful! I-I just gave myself goosebumps…"

"Hey," I lied down looking at the sky again. "At least you're willing to face your fears…"

"Hey," Chie sat next to me with a reassuring smile on her face. "You faced the biggest thing that anyone can… Their past, and won!"

"_Doesn't mean I faced all my demons…_" I sat up and then rolled in the grass, jumping up to my feet. "Okay Chie-sensei, what are we doing today!"

Chie smiled as she jumped to her feet and started hoping on her feet like she did before she fought shadows; oh god, I was scared, until… "Let's start with frog leaps!"

Yeah, it was a weird day, after a while, I was sore, but still walked Chie home, just laughing about the day. After we parted ways, I went straight home, eat and fell asleep on my couch. I never did get to read that text until Kan- well still, I got a text from someone I once knew that night.

_Yo! Kreed… Been awhile. Hey, I coming to Inaba, think I can crash with you?_

_ -Will_

* * *

**_Yep, still kinda short, well hope you enjoyed, I will try to update again tomorrow, but no promises! It sucks, I kinda just wanna work on this story, oh well, see ya!_**


	9. Chapter 9: Awkard Aiya's and Blue hats

April 20, 2011

Forecast… Cloudy

"Oh," I was walking with Yu to school that day; we passed by an old lady in black who was talking to a cat… Not weird if she was a crazy cat lady, but she didn't seem like one. "Are you hungry? Or are you lonely? Haha… Of course. Everyone is lonely."

"That was weird." I whispered to Yu as we walked away from the woman, Yu nodded in agreement. "So what do you think was up with that?" Yu being the ultimate master of language just shrugged; yet, that's when a familiar cheerful voice found its way to our ears.

"Morning!" Chie was running down the road up to us, she had a smile on her face. I just smiled back. "Hey, did you guys see that just now?"

"Crazy lady in black?" I smirked an evil smirk towards her. "Or the cat?"

"The cat," Chie giggled a little before continuing to explain herself. "It was cute. Yukiko gave it some food a while back, but it just won't take to me."

"Ya win some ya lose some." I just shrugged at her, yet it didn't seem to bother her that much. "Oh well, I'm more of a dog person. Oh yeah, I got a text from Yukiko, she's slowly getting better. Doesn't seem like there's any weird lasting effects, so that's good."

"I'm relieved to hear it." Yu just nodded at Chie. I smiled and put my arms around the two of them. "What are you doing?"

"Just taking it in…" I smiled as we awkwardly continued to walk to school. I was smiling like an idiot, Yu just went with it putting his arm on mine. Chie was blushing in embarrassment. "I mean after all, we're heroes! This is freaking awesome!"

"I guess so," Chie shrugged a bit, it didn't really seem to hit her, after all she was still worried about Yukiko, which she showed by continuing to explain her status to us. "All we have to do is wait till she gets better. Let's hold off on the other stuff until then."

"Well," I sighed still holding the two close. "The longer you wait, the worse someone's memory will be, but she does need the rest… so, yeah let's wait."

"Agreed."

* * *

Time Change: Early Morning to Lunch

"So we gonna train today?" I sat down next to Chie on the roof, it was just us today. Yosuke and Yu were going to what I assumed was the cafeteria. Still Chie sighed at the question like she was actually sad about something. "What's wrong?"

"Sorry," Chie looked at me with a half-smile, I was actually getting worried for a moment, until… "Not today, my parents want me to go straight home and help around the house."

"It's cool," I shrugged chowing down on my soba noodles in front of me, I shrugged. "I'll just go bug Yosuke or watch TV…"

Chie just sighed, lunch had just started so we had a lot of time to talk, I could not stand the awkward silence, so what did I do… I started to sing. "_Welcome to the world you see. An AK with a couple blood is this? don't matter to me. Scatter the ashes over the seven seas. That sickness, that feeling inside you. That's weakness, don't let it divide you. Keep this, that feeling of pride too. Digging up bones which you buried the truth."_

Chie looked up at me as I sang the song from memory, I knew this song well enough, and I finished my noodles, so I stood up and started to move around as I sang the song. Chie started to smile a bit as I continued to sing. "_Children, hypocrisy, that's what I give, you can take it from me. If you don't, won't live to see. One last act of tragedy. A mother's heart can make me humble. No life lost can make it stumble. Our empire will never crumble."_

At this point Chie actually joined in, which surprised me greatly. She knew, not only the song, but the way to say the words. "_We did it for the glory. The glory. Only the glory! We live inside a story. It's a story. All for the glory!"_

"Holy shit," I was amazed at one, her voice, two, that she knew Hollywood Undead… "Whoa… um… Chie, th-that was awesome! I didn't know that you listened to _Hollywood Undead_!"

"Who hasn't at least heard of them?" Chie smiled brightly as I did a fist pump, this was awesome! Man, I thought I would be alone in my taste in music, but now; OH HELL YEAH! We both started laughing for a moment. That is until the bell rang, at which we both just looked at and scrambled back to the stairs. All we could think at that moment was "SHIT!"

* * *

Time Change: Lunch to Afternoon

I was so confused by the way that the teachers in this school, first Mrs. Sofue, the Pharaoh, then Mr. Kondo; P.E. plus English, now Mr. Hosoi, or in my book, Mr. Puppet hand… yeah no joke, he wore a puppet of himself on his hand. I have no other way of wanting to explain him; the puppet was enough to notice him from a mile away. "All right, allll right! Settle down, now. Class is in session. My name is Mr. Hosoi and in this class you'll be learning about contemporary writing. Let's all have fun."

"There is now why this can be fun…" I whispered to Chie, she tried not laugh. Yep, I still had that effect on people. For once that is… anyway. "His puppet talks more than he does… I think the puppet is the puppeteer, not him."

Chie now started to roll her eyes, after all, now she was trying to listen to the lesson. "Shush, he might hear us!"

"Not like we're doing anything bad." I grinned evilly as Mr. Hosoi continued the lesson.

"I know this is off topic, but what's the point of applying to colleges outside of Inaba?" There was no way he could have been serious, right? Was he really complaining about the lesson… Oh dear god! "Why even bother?"

"_Carpe Diem, that's why…"_ I sighed, I really didn't want any chances I had for hope to vanish. Not like one teacher would ruin that, but still…

"Nothing good comes out of competing with city folk. The country-side is all you need." Oh god, he was serious about this, well, we knew who not to be in charge of a class reunion… "Well, since this is our first lesson, why don't you show me how much you already know. Now then, how many parts are there in Murakami's 'The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle?' Hana-chan! I'm calling on you, I get the feeling you're not much of a reader."

"Hey! I read!" What manga, god Yosuke really did not seem like a heavy reader. "I mean not books, but…" Whoop there it is! "Kreed! C'mon man, help me out here!"

"How am I supposed to know!?" I whispered quietly to Yosuke. "I never heard of the guy before!"

"Guess!?"

"Three!" I almost yelled my guess out, yet Yosuke still took the answer. Mr. Hosoi actually seemed surprise that for once he was wrong about something… God complex much…

"Very good, Hana-chan! Either you're more literary than you look, or that was a lucky guess." Mr. Hosoi suddenly went on a long speal about the book… I missed most of it, because I was surprised by myself getting the question right, so were Chie and Yosuke.

"How did you…?" Chie raised an eyebrow at me.

"I have no idea, but," I whispered back to Yosuke. "You owe me two steaks now!"

"Wh-what!?"

* * *

Time Change: Afternoon to After School

I was walking through the shopping district; with nothing to do I decided to just walk around for a while. I had been walking for a while when I noticed a familiar face; Yu was walking with a black haired girl with a blue hat on, it took me a moment, but I recognized her. The girl from the train station, they were walking away from a little outdoor… um, diner I guess. I could barely make out Yosuke running in the opposite direction. I probably had to go to Junes for work… How he forgot was beyond me. "Yo, Narukami-san!"

Yu looked at me and smiled. "Kreed, what's up?"

Bored and nothing to do was the truth, but I went simply with. "Nothing much, hey I didn't know that you two knew each other."

"Whatever…" The girl looked away from me, I thought it was kinda rude, but she really didn't know me. She pointed at me. "Who is that?"

"Okay doesn't remember me either…" I shrugged slightly before turning back to her. "We seven days ago on the eleventh, at the train station. I'm Kreed Richards, Yu's friend."

I held my hand out to her and she just looked at Yu. "I thought that other guy was your 'partner?'"

"I have more than one friend…" Yu sighed, before turning to me. "We're going to the hill just outside of town."

"Well I'll be out of your guys hair," I bowed and stepped aside and started walking to the Northern End of the Shopping District. "See ya at school Narukami!"

I walked away before they could say anything else, I really didn't want to get in their way, after all. I ended walking by a video store and stopped before noticing that it was a pawn shop, and there was a specific movie in the window. I looked at it and smiled, I had the money to make plenty of small purchases, besides, and this was for a friend… I walked into the store and in ten minutes I walked out with three games and a brand new copy of "Trial of the Dragon!"

* * *

Time Change: After School to Evening

"I'm coming!" I walked down the stairs from my room when I heard the doorbell start to ring. It was dark out, so I had no idea who it could have been. I reached the door and slowly opened the door grabbing my baseball bat to see Chie standing in my doorway… "Oh Chie… WAIT, CHIE!?"

"H-hi…" Chie smiled shy fully. Wh-why was she at my house at night!? There was no way in hell her parents were gonna like this! "I wanted to know if you've eaten yet…"

"N-no, why!?" I was actually nervous about this. Why? Don't ask me!?

"You wanna go to Aiya's?" Chie smiled a bit, again I was confused she was asking me this at NIGHT! "I just didn't want to eat there alone, and Yukiko is still sick…"

"U-um…" I had no idea what to say to her; usually I had a freaking clue! Yet here I was speechless. "S-sure, are your parents okay with this!?"

"Yeah," Chie sighed with relief as I agreed to go and eat with her. "They actually thought it would be okay for the tonight at least…"

I sighed and grabbed a hoodie; it was kinda cold at night. "Lead the way madam!"

* * *

Aiya's

"Wow!" I was so happy when I saw the menu at Aiya's, it all sounded good! Yet, there was one item on the menu that I wanted more than anything at that moment. "They have steak!"

"Yeah," Chie was smiling brightly as she placed her menu down on the counter and almost started jumping up and down with excitement for her favorite meal. "I can't wait!"

"What you two having?" The owner spoke up to us. Without missing a beat we both answered at the same time.

"Steak!" We both smiled, until he heard each other's answers and we just stared at each other for a moment, Chie blushed dark red in embarrassment, it really didn't help with what the owner said next.

"Never heard of a couple sharing a steak…" Chie and me both turned dark red and avoided eye contact. After a moment I finally broke the silence.

"W-we're not dating…" This time the owner turned red with embarrassment.

"Aiya! Sorry, two steaks coming up." I started to rub the back of my neck at this point, god I was nervous about what was going to happen, because, until that moment I had never really thought about what I thought about Chie… I started think I actually did like her, but I doubted that she could feel the same way.

"Sooooo," I sighed a bit. "That was awkward…"

"Yeah," Chie laughed awkwardly at the atmosphere at the moment. "So, um… Wanna train tomorrow?"

"S-sure…" She sighed in relief that it wasn't awkward enough for us to stop hanging out. We didn't really talk much for the rest of the night. There were some random comments about Hollywood Undead and other things, but still the awkward atmosphere lingered for the rest of the time. After that I walked her to her house and went home to sleep. Still the steak was FUCKING AWESOME! I go back to Aiya's more often!

* * *

_**Wow that was fast! Well here is chapter nine, I don't think there will be an update tomorrow, sorry. Still hope you enjoyed!**_


	10. Chapter 10: Chariot's Broken Wheel

April 21, 2011

Forecast… Rain in the morning and Cloudy in the afternoon.

I slowly rolled off of my bed; I knew it was happening, so I was able to stop my fall for the moment. I quickly jumped up to my feet and started to stretch. I was a bit drowsy; I thought it was weird for me to feel like that. Until I looked at my clock… I started to flip out! It was almost eight! I was gonna be late for school! I stood there for a moment, I figured it wouldn't be a big deal until I realized, I'm in King Moron's class… It was the digest deal ever! No way in hell I'm taking a detention with him for this! Switching in to hyper gear, I quickly grabbed all of my clothes for school and threw them on my bed, so that I could change quickly. I ran down stairs and plopped some bread into the toaster and ran up to my bathroom, I quickly brushed my teeth and slapped on some deodorant. I heard the toast pop. So I ran back down stairs to grab it. Then I ran back up to my room and quickly got my uniform on and finally placed my beanie firmly on my head.

I ran to the front door and threw it open, it find out that it was raining out… "_Son of a-!"_ So I ran back into the house and started to frantically dig around, looking for an umbrella, what did I do to derisive this!? After ten minutes of searching I had to end my search, I sighed; turning to the door, I swallowed the last of the toast I was eating during the search and bolted out the door… There was no way that this was going to end well… The rain wasn't coming down that hard; it seemed like it would let up before the end of the day, but still, had I started walking to school, I would have been drenched from head toe. I started to look for any place to run under something to hide from the rain, this day was really starting to suck, and I had just woken up! Still, I ran as fast as I could, running under trees and anything hanging off of buildings. I was starting to run out of breath when I reached the school building, I was barely wet, but it was still visible, so I causally walked into the building trying to avoid being noticed. The bell rang about a minute ago, so I pulled out my phone and typed away at some of the buttons, now I just put my faith in the person my text went to.

* * *

Home Room Five Minutes ago

Chie looked over at the empty desk next to her, Kreed should have been her by now, and the bell was going to ring shortly. She didn't want him to get in trouble, yet she didn't think that he was gonna sleep in today. Yeah, yesterday got a little awkward, but that wasn't a real reason not to show up to school. Could he have gotten sick, it was raining, but not very hard, he should easily be able to make it to school without any problems, after all, and she did. Yu looked just as worried, he was their friends after all. Yosuke was doing his homework at the last minute, why? Because he was lazy as hell, or that's how Chie saw it. Still he was a good guy, but back to the problem at hand.

She was worried that it was her fault that Kreed hadn't showed up yet. That couldn't really be the reason could it? It seemed pretty likely at the current place and time, she just sighed a place her head in her hands. They would just have to wait and see if he showed up or not. King Moron had walked into the room at this point, which meant that the bell was going to ring real so-…

The bell rang, Chie sighed, she hoped that Kreed was just sick. King Moron started to take role, just as he was about to make it to Kreed's place, Yosuke raised his hand. "Excuse me, Mr. Morooka?"

Yosuke stood up in his desk, it kept King Moron from looking down at the empty desk in front of Yosuke. "Huh? What is it!? Can't it wait till after I take attendance, you little brat!"

"I think someone wrote some… um," Yosuke thought about something for a moment, Chie looked back at him, but she stopped part way to see someone peeking through the door, that was part way open. She didn't need to guess who it was, after all the glasses and beanie gave it away. Kreed was using Yosuke as a distraction. "V-vulgar… uh, language on the wall on the left side of the black board!"

"What!?" King Moron quickly turned around to look at the wall. "Where!?" Kreed quickly but quietly slipped into the class and closed the door, he started to tip-toe to his desk. "I don't see anything."

"It's up farther!" Yosuke was smiling now as Kreed and him fist pounded, why no one busted them was a really good question. Maybe they just loved the chance to see someone screwing with King Moron, or some other unknown reason… still no one ratted on the two. Kreed slipped into his desk as Yosuke ended his fun when Kreed finally sat down. "Oh, never mind, it was just a brick in the wall."

"Don't screw with me Hanamura!" King Moron's face was bright red with anger. It quickly disappeared as he continued to take role. "Richards…"

"Present!" Kreed held his hand up for a moment and then dropped it and let out a sigh of relief.

* * *

Home Room present

All I could think was who freaking lucky I was for Yosuke to actually help me out with that, um… little problem, my god my heart was racing for the running that had taken place and from the fear that I had to experience because of King Moron's uptight motherfu-, anyways. I smiled as I looked to Chie, she was giving me a very confused glance. "So we still up for training after school?"

"Sure," Chie sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "What took you so long today?"

"My alarm didn't go off in time…"

"Oh!"

"Yep, the running killed me more than anything…" I sighed as I looked back to the front of the class. Chie chuckled slightly, I looked back to her raising my eyebrows. "What's funny?"

"Then you might die today…"

* * *

Time Change: Early Morning to After School

Flood Plain

"Ready?" Chie smiled as we stood near the river of the flood plain, in a fight stance, I was ready for a sparing cession. Chie was hoping back and forth on her fight like she did when she was fighting shadows. I held my arms up to cover my face and stomach, my stance was wide, that way I could move quickly.

"After what you said this morning…" I sighed, but didn't drop my guard, after all, we were about to "fight," and the shadows had taught me to never drop your guard. "Not really, but… let's go!"

With my comment, Chie quickly ran at me and swung her legs at my feet. I noticed this and jumped her leg, after landing she kicked me in the side, luckily my arm was in the way, unfortunately, my arm was in the way. Let me explain this, if she had kicked my side, I would have been down for the count, if she kicks your arm, don't plan on writing for the next couple of hours. Boy did I learn that the hard way… Anyway, back to the fight. After she kicked my arm, I quickly shot my hand out, open palmed (I'm not dick!). If hit her in the shoulder, it knocked her off balance for a moment, I tried to use that to my advantage, which failed… Hey! Don't laugh! This is Chie I was fighting… CHIE SOTANAKA, she could kick a shadow that weighed a ton into space from the center of the earth!

When I tried to knock Chie's leg out from under her, she used me to regain her balance and kicked my feet out from under me. I hit the ground hard, but not hard enough for the fight to be over. I quickly jumped back to my fight, literally… I jumped at Chie, curled up in the air and got a kick to the legs, it rolled me and I landed on my hands, which I then rolled away from her strait back to my feet. I was noticing that I was on the ground a lot in this fight. Still I got back to the fight again, I shot my hand open palmed at her again, this time, gently at her stomach. I didn't hurt her; I put my hand there for a moment and pushed forward. She was catch off guard, only for a moment, but I was able to get behind her and swipe one of her legs out from under her, then I grabbed her shoulder so she wouldn't fall. "Give up?"

"You wish!" Chie pulled herself back up and kicked my shoulder and knocked my legs out from under me. Knocking me to the ground, yeah, I lost. In all honesty, I would have lost a serious fight with Chie, I think everyone but Kanji would have. Chie is a scary girl when she wants her to be. Chie just stood over me with a smile, you really had to admire the girl's sense of humor… "Give up?"

"Fine, fine!" I threw my hands up as though to say "I'm done!" "You win; mainly because my lungs feel like they're gonna explode… That's beside the point."

Chie smiled brightly, as she held out her hand to help me up, when I was one on my feet we both started to breathe a little heavy. She smiled and put her hands on her hips. "Let's call it a day."

"Thank you!" I shot my arms apart smiling like an idiot. Chie frowned slightly; I still kept my smile though. "Sorry, not that I don't like training with you, just I'm tired as hell!"

Smiled again, until some guy walked up to us. He had on a black jacket with a red under shirt and black jeans, his hair was a black mess. Other than that, I don't like mentioning him still… "Huh? Hey, Chie. Whatcha doing?"

Chie turned around at the sound of the guys voice, she seemed panicked when she saw his face. "T-Takeshi…!? W-well… training! I'm working out!"

He acted like it was a big joke, this dude had managed to piss me off in under ten seconds, not a good move on his part. "Huh? When are you gonna graduate to being king of the hill?"

"K-king of the hill…?" Chie seemed like she was getting upset over the incident, which in turn only managed to get me even more pissed at the guy.

"In kindergarten it was the Runt Gang," The guys now seemed like was reminiscing about something, but it still sounded like he was bagging on Chie. "In elementary school you were an Ally of Justice… Middle school, it was the Vanguards of the Lunch Revolution, wasn't it?" At that point, I knew the only thing was trying to do was make fun of Chie. I was close to knocking the guys lights out! "Haha, so… What is it now? You a Protector of Earth's Peace?"

"W-well…" I really didn't know how to react to this moment, but I didn't want to hit the guy with Chie around, she seemed like she had known him for a while.

"It's none your business now is it!" I tried to hold myself back from calling the dude a mother fucker! He was so proving that he belonged on MY Shit list!

"K-Kreed-kun…" Chie looked at me with surprise, it was either in anger or relief that I stood up for her… Dear god let it be the second one…

"Oh, uhhh…" Takeshi or whatever the guy's name was, was starting to get panicked. "I didn't mean that in a mean way." Bullshit! "I'm Takeshi Kouno. I was with Chie up until middle school… I'm not gonna get in you guys' way."

Was trying not to jump with glee that the guy was gonna walk away, yet I felt bad because Chie started to look really sad. "Hey, what are you…?"

"Oh," Damnit, just LEAVE! "How's Yukiko-san doing…? Does she have a boyfriend yet…?" That was the line I knew that you should never cross with Chie, the guy had pissed me off so much that I made a shit list right there, so far… He was the only person on it. He was crossing far too many lines by just having a normal conversation; he was not someone I wanted to be socialized with. Yet, Chie… Chie seemed fine with it, or at least she wouldn't beat the ever loving shit out of this douche! It was a little too much for me to believe, one of the main reasons being how little amount of socializing I had that didn't involve me getting made fun of or getting the shit beaten out of me… So I stayed my hand and didn't make a move to kick this guy's ass. Still, I was about to tell this guy to go fuck off, until Chie…

"She's fine," I looked at her, and I could see some pain in her face. The only reason I knew it was there, is because it was a pain of not being accepted someone, or anyone. Takeshi didn't really seem to notice it. "And I don't think so."

"I see." He gained a very smug as grin after he heard her answer. Just pissed me off even more. "Cool, cool. She still good-looking?" I was a single breath from kicking in this guy's face; just listening to this was pissing me off! It was fucking retarded how he didn't seem to care about Chie, his so called friend! "Maybe I should try for her again..."

"_AGAIN!_" After I just exploded both of them stared at me for a moment. They probably had no idea what I was saying. "_The fuck do you mean!? Again!?_"

"Uh…" Takeshi turned his back to us, and started to walk away quickly. Yes, it was smart for him to be scared of me! "I'll see you later. Say hi to Yukiko-san for me…" After he thought he was out of viewing distance, he started to run. I grinned evil until I say Chie's face, I instantly felt bad for her. It was easy for me to tell that she felt something for him, something that he didn't return. I kinda knew how she felt, only… I wanted anyone to just talk to me. I think I'm over using the sob story now… Heh, you get so used to something that you don't even know if it gets annoying to other people. I thought about what to say to Chie, after a few moments of silence… I smiled, laying my voice with a fake one.

"Maybe I should try for her again…" Chie looked at me for a moment, and then her smile crept back onto her face. I loved that no matter what I could make her smile, it felt good knowing that.

"Hahaha!" Chie was still looking me in the eye. "What, was that supposed to sound like him!?"

"Yep!" I grinned evilly as I spun around her for a moment. She spun around trying to follow my movements. "I thought it was perfect!"

"If you're deaf!" Her smile widened, before disappearing again. "I-I'm sorry. He really is rude, huh?"

"He's lucky I didn't punch him…"

Chie looked away from me now, not being able to make eye contact. "Seriously… He was always staring at Yukiko…" I raised an eyebrow at her; I knew where this was going. "H-hey, don't get me wrong. He's nothing but an old classmate to me! We're just friends, y'know…? We used to get that a lot, though."

I shook my head. He didn't deserve friends like Chie and Yukiko from the way he had acted, the whole time he was talking… the only thing he did was make fun of Chie! I sighed, I was pretty sure that training was over for the day as Chie put on a fake smile for me. "But that's all in the past! Let's head home."

"Sure…" I sighed as we started walking home. She didn't say a word for most of the time that we walked, I felt like the atmosphere was getting heavy. I looked at her and sighed, after a few more feet… I stopped walking. Chie looked back at me with a confused look. "I think I'm gonna hang out with Yu tomorrow, so far Chie, you're the only person that I've hung out with…"

"R-really!?" Chie looked surprised; I guess she really didn't know what I did yesterday before we went to Aiya's. "W-well, wh-why!?"

"I don't know…" I looked up to the sky and sighed again. "Just didn't want to I guess…" Looked back at her with a smile. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow…"

"Okay…" She looked at me with concern in her eyes, she was thinking about me being alone again, I knew she was. I just smiled as her as I walked away. "Laters!"

With that, I walked back to my house. Even though that Takeshi guy pissed me off to no end, it was a good day. I wasn't gonna let anyone ruin my life again, just because they were a dick to me or my friends, I was gonna how I wanted to live life!

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_**Yeah! Got it on before midnight! Hell yeah! Anyway... off topic, I know chapter 9 sucked, so I hope this makes up for it... I hope, anyway! Hope you enjoyed, feed back is welcome. And we are now in double digits now!**_


	11. Chapter 11: Sick Day

April 22, 2011

Forecast… Clear in the morning, then Cloudy all through the night

"_ACHOO!_" My head was thrown forward and smashed against my kitchen table, I smashed against it hard enough to start seeing stars. I shook my head for a moment, and placed my right hand on my forehead. "_Son of a motherfucker! That hurt… So much for hanging out with anyone today."_

I had gotten sick almost overnight, I guess running to school on a rainy day is enough to do that to you. Now add on the fact that I was still sore from training with Chie yesterday… and you can absolutely do almost nothing! So, I had texted everyone that I wouldn't be at school. So I did something that I knew I could do no matter how sick I felt… eat and play video games! I had just finished eating, so… vid game time! I walked, slowly with a blanket around me, to the couch. Which already had my controller on it. Now don't start getting into the which one is better fight here, because… I had a 360 and Halo in it, well Halo Reach… I planned on beating it for the, um… one, two… three thousandth time today. After I did that, I was gonna kick the snot out of Hazama in Blazblue! (What can I say? I'm a guy of many taste.) Anyway, I started going through the levels of Halo with ease until I got to the recon level with Jun. (Seriously! I hate that level! It never gives enough ammo!)

Anyway, as I was getting to the part where you fight the gaint tusked… aliens as well as some Grunts. My phone went crazy, starting to play the beginning of my ringtone… like six times in a row before continuing with the bleeps. I almost threw my controller out of my hands with how much it scared the shit out of my! Still, when I realized that I had nothing to fear, I reached of the phone and flipped it open, I had a lot of texts from everyone! (Everyone being Yu, Chie, and Yosuke…) Most of them just asking how I was doing… Not that it bothered me… just; they did scare the ever loving shit out of me! That's when I noticed it was lunch time for them, and the moment realization hit me… my stomach started to rubble enough for me to grab my stomach. God only knows how freaking hungry I was that day…

So I went on slow, kinda painful search for food… All I had left was… a bag of chips… I really should go to the store more often and stock up before I start living somewhere. That would have been helpful too. Well, when you're hungry you'll eat anything you can get your hands on… if you're a guy. Anyway! So I returned to my gaming while eating the potato chips. After about, maybe three more hours of Halo, and the disco glitch, funny no matter how many times I see it! I finally beat the game… again. So I switched the games out, again, it was slow and painful, I made a note to myself at that moment; next time you train with Chie… take pain killers when you wake up! I slowly returned to my seat on the couch and started up the game. I went about playing the game for about two hours, just when I was about to stop playing the game, I started to hear people standing outside of my door… at least two voices, maybe three… I really couldn't tell at the moment, I got up from the couch and made my journey to my front door. I could clearly hear that there were two people, that's not what surprised me… what surprised me, was I knew two of those voices. "Would you hurry up and knock!?"

"Would you just be quiet," The first voice was that of a girl, the second was that of a guy. "He's sick, so he might be asleep!"

"Yosuke would you just knock!?" That's not when I figured out who they were, when they started fighting, that's when I knew who had come a knocking at my door. So, I opened the door to be greeted by Yosuke's fist knocking on my forehead.

"_What the!?"_ I recoiled so he couldn't smash his fist into my face… again! "Chie!? Yosuke!? Holy shit Yu! Speak up for once!"

"Oh crap!" Yosuke recoiled in fear as he figured out that he just basically punched me. I just rolled my eyes at him. That was also when I got the chance to look at the clock… four o'clock, yep, just wasted a whole day eating chips and playing video games… Mission accomplished! "K-Kreed! Are you alright!?"

"Been better," I sniffled at my friends, and stepped out of the way of the door for them. "Come on in."

"Um…" All three of them just looked at each other, my guess, trying to figure out if I had the plague or not. I sighed and walked away from the door back to the couch, the destraction was all I needed to want to continue playing the game, until I noticed they were still just standing at the door. For the love of god! I had a fucking cold! Not flesh eating bacteria! "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"I have a cold," I looked over the back of my couch to look at them. "Not the stomach flu… or flesh eating bacteria, which would suck…"

They all just shrugged at each other and stepped through the door. All three of them then began to investigate my house; it was like they had stepped into a whole new world. I couldn't blame them; my mom paid no expense trying to make the place look nice before I moved to Inaba. "Welcome to my evil lair. The sharks with lasers on their heads, unfortunately, shot each other; they made so damn good fish and BBQ though!"

Yu smiled, he was apparently the only one who got the movie reference. Hell, I was surprised that any of them got the joke… Chie just gave me a look that asked if I was crazy. "Sharks…?"

"It's a joke Chie…" Yosuke was the first one to notice what I was doing, and almost immediately ran to jump onto the couch. "Holy shit Yosuke! Where's the fi- _Achoo! God damnit all!_ The fire."

"Dude," Yosuke just stared at the screen for a moment. "I had no idea you liked _Blazblue_!"

"Hell yeah I do!" I gave Yosuke an evil grin as I entered the character selection. I had the extended version, so I had Relius as a character. "Toa is my favorite character… EVER!"

"What are you two blabbing about?" Chie walked into the living room and sat down on the same couch as me. Oh, should probably tell ya the layout of the room, huh? Okay, so TV is in the corner farthest from the front door, flat screen. (God Mom! Make the richness show!) There are two couches, on along a wall, another along a very short divider, what was it dividing? The kitchen and the Living room. Okay there ya go! Anyway! So Chie looked at the screen and her eyes widened. "Oh my god! I love this game too!"

"Holy shit!" I about threw the controller down and did a little jig, which is… If I was able to move at that moment in time… heh. "I have made the coolest fucking friends… EVER!"

Yu sat down next to Yosuke on the couch along the wall, this room could honestly fit at least ten comfortably, the house on a party day… we got to about… um, sixteen fit comfortably in the kitchen and living room… don't ask about the party yet… we'll get there, after a long time, so just keep your questions for later! Where were we? Oh yeah! "I got another controller if you guys wanna play!"

Chie and Yosuke about jumped in their seats as Yu finally SPOKE for the first time today! "Sure, make it a tournament if you want."

"YES!" I point into the air, grunting in pain of course, still going with it, and sniffling again. "Everybody get character! I call Toa!"

Yosuke shot to his feet, almost falling over, yep, that excited. "I call Bang!"

"Really…" I glared at Yosuke now. "One of the lamest characters… really?"

"Hey!" Yosuke started to get a little defensive, for god sakes! Bang was worse than the Eragon movie! Yeah, that bad… it didn't help prove Yosuke was strait; of course neither did Kanji, but we'll get to that too. I promise… Everything will be revealed in time. Don't give me that look… Anyway. "Bang is awesome… and he trains Toa!"

"Toa kicked Bang's sorry ass in her story mode." Chie brought the one argument that I had thought of… Holy hell that scared me. "Besides, I want Hakumen!"

"Ragna." Stated who he was gonna play as, of course he wanted the main freaking character, still Ragna was kinda cool. I clapped my hands together. This was gonna be fun, I then thought of something interesting.

"Hey," Ever turned to me as my evil smile appeared on my face, everyone knew that this couldn't end well. "Let's make it interesting!"

"Interesting how…?" Yosuke folded his arms against his chest, he knew that no matter how this day ended, it was gonna hurt him in some way, and he was right!

"Whoever wins…" I leaned back in my seat, still in pain… "Gets one thousand yen from each loser."

"Deal!" Chie and Yu agreed almost instantly, Yosuke just looked at them like they were nuts, hell they all knew I could afford it. Yosuke thought about it for a moment, still thinking that this was gonna hurt him in some way. He was still right!

"What the hell," Yosuke shrugged and stood up. "Deal, so where's the other controller at anyway."

Now you might start asking yourself… why do we care about you guys playing video games. Well, I have no clue… Just bear with me here. Anyway, Chie sat next to me with the white controller, while I had my red controller. As we waited for the loading screen to go away, everyone was talking about what happened at school that day. They also mentioned bring my homework over, great… just what you wanna do on your day way from school… Anyway, the screen finally changed as our characters were introduced. "This is gonna be fun, bring it on Chie!"

"Good luck Kreed," Chie finally started to mash the buttons, and actually started to kick my character to the curb… "You're gonna need it!"

I was calm as Yosuke started to get excited and he started telling Chie how to play the game… the game that she seemed to be a pro at. "Hit him with your special, come on! If you do that you can win!"

"Yosuke," Chie didn't take her eyes off the screen for a moment. Still, I was waiting for a specific moment. "Shut up!"

Yu just laughed, yeah he was finding this funny. "What did I do!?"

"Just zip it!" Me and Chie both yelled at him, yet Chie actually looked at him, that was what I was waiting for! I quickly put in the combination of buttons as the game showed that I did it right, and my character jumped on Chie's, metal blade claws out! "Hey Chie, THIS IS FOR THE TUNA!"

Everyone just stared at the screen as my character slowly kicked the snot out of Chie's, the moment that combo was done, I put in another one. Chie hardly had time to react, as my character slashed her claws from one end of the screen, to the other. Chie's character had one hit left, so I made my character throw a milk bottle at hers. "That is how it's done!"

"Wh-" Chie could hardly believe it, especially sense it was a one round game… heh. "B-but!"

"Sorry," I smiled brightly at her, I was actually trying not to get kicked in the nads, still. When I saw Yosuke's face, I knew I was safe. Mainly because he busted out laughing, I knew at that point, the tournament would have to wait until another day… Chie quickly jumped up and basically kicked the shit out of Yosuke, Yu and me both just sighed, we knew our fun had ended for the day. Damn Yosuke!

* * *

Time Change: Daytime to Evening

"Hope you feel better tomorrow Kreed." Yu had Yosuke dangling from his shoulder; he wasn't hurt that bad, he was just a freaking drama queen. Yeah, I know, did I just now figure this out? No, I knew this. Yu and Yosuke walked out the door; Chie was still on my couch, with a pouting face on. Yeah, Yosuke ticked her off. So I plopped on the couch right next to her.

"Well," Chie had her arms crossed. I thought about what to say, so that I didn't end up like Yosuke was acting. "That was a fun day."

"Until Yosuke ruined it." She wasn't really that mad, after all, I could tell the two had been friends for a while now. Ten bucks said she was actually mad at herself for ruining the day. I actually had fun today.

"Na," I smiled at her. "I had fun, a lot more than if you guys hadn't- _ACHOO! _Showed up… Sorry."

"It's fine, I'm the one that should be sorry." Chie sighed again. That moment, I remembered something that I needed to give her. I quickly jumped up, I wasn't as sore anymore, so I could move easily. Anyway, I quickly ran into my room and grabbed what I was looking for. I ran back into the living room, Chie was now getting ready to leave. I stopped her at the door.

"Wait!" I held out the DVD that I might to give her yesterday, or sooner. "Here, I didn't know if Yosuke was gonna buy you a new copy, so I just picked this one up for ya."

"_TRIAL OF THE DARGON!_" Chie was jumping with joy when she saw the title, she quickly swiped it out of my hands. I smiled as she jumped up and down with the DVD in her hands. Yet I blushed when she threw her arms around my neck. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"Y-you're welcome…" I patted her back twice, then she let go of me. Her face was also light red. Yet just enough that it was difficult to tell that she was even blushing. "Well, have fun, see you tomorrow, hopefully."

"Bye." She then proceeded to exit my house. I smiled and went to bed, when I woke up the next morning… I was better, everyone else… well, they had gotten my cold. Oops, forgot to warn them about the chips…

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_**Sorry took so long , I got sick over the weekend... Hence why I made this chapter. So hope you enjoyed, feed back is welcome.**_


	12. Chapter 12: Past Days and New Songs

April 24, 2011

Forecast… Sunny

"You feeling any better…" I gave Chie an evil grin as walked to Junes after a day after all of my friends being sick. It was Sunday after all, so me and Chie had decided to go to Junes, Yu was hanging out in a place called Okina station. "I forgot to tell you guys not to eat the chips."

Chie just glared at me for a moment, I threw my hands up in defense as if to say, _I didn't mean to!_ She just sighed at me. "So what are we going to do here anyway?"

"Don't ya know!?" I stopped walking with mock shock on my face; I acted scared for a moment later. "Oh no! She's discovered the plan! All agents… ABORT! ABORT!"

Chie just started to laugh at me, she knew I was joking. I was glad about that though, even after getting her sick, she was fine with me making stupid little jokes that I always do. "Joking aside, I'm going for two things! One: hang out with a friend! Two: to see what CDs they got in stock."

"That's it?" Chie actually seemed confused at this, yes; she gave one of the biggest music maniacs she very could have known if all he wanted to do was look at CDs. I almost faced palmed at her; she was joking right? "Not going into the TV right?"

"Why?" I turned and just gave her a look that basically screamed: _You're joking right?_ "I have no reason to, hey, though you did just give me an idea!"

"Oh no…"

"We should go to Aiya's after this!" I smiled as we walked up to the doors of Junes. "Only this time, let's hope it's a little less awkward."

"Y-yeah," Chie kinda rubbed the back of her neck. We walked around the store for a while, I pointed out some stuff that looked cool. Hell, I saw an anime store! I thought they only had those in America, because, well anime here was like regular TV programming. I promised myself I would go there before the year was up. Finally after about a half hour, we finally found a music store. Not the last one, no this one was basically just CDs. I noticed the song playing as we walked in and instantly start to laugh a little. Then after a few seconds I started singing along.

"_Don't keep putting us down, no messing around! We're standing out ground, we'll keep on making this noise, the girls and the boys! We're changing this town!"_ Chie and the clerk on duty just stared at me as I made an ass of myself, singing perfectly in English, to a song not many people had heard. "_Fashion. Style. Black. White. Shades of Grey. Straight. Tight. Loose. Baggy. Belt braces. Angry. Happy. Shiny faces. Thick. Thin. Hairy. Tall. Smiley. Pretty. Ugly. Small. Old. Young. Miss. Hit. Lazy crazy MISFIT!_ I love this song! One of the only good songs that came out of this band too!"

"So," The clerk looked at me with a weird smile on his face as he looked back to a catalog of some sorts that he was reading. "You're a fan of _Thebandwithnoname_ then I take it?"

"Only cause of that song," I started to search the first alley, all of the music was categorized by genre, which didn't really help me trying to find what I liked, but helped me avoid all the crappy music. Chie was just staring at me still as my head started to bob with the current song, it was a song I didn't recognize, hell I can't even remember the words to it. "What?"

"How did you not have friends back where you lived?" I knew that question was coming on of these days; I was just hoping to avoid it by bugging Yosuke about his Shadow… not this time. Chie had me cornered. I sighed as I shuffled threw CD after CD , then I took a quick brake to listen to the song. Which turned out to be the last few minutes of it, the _Victim _by Avenged Sevenfold came on, great fucking timing!

"_And some say this can't be real. And I've lost my power to feel tonight._" I thought about the best way to explain this to her. I trusted her with my life, might as well give her my past as well. "_We're all just victims of a crime._ Look, I'm only gonna ever explain this once. So, please, just listen carefully."

Chie just nodded as I started to search threw the thousands of CDs that the store had again. I took a deep breath. "Just before I was born, my mom got a large inheritance from her parents. She's a smart woman, wanted what would have been best for her kids. She also guessed which stocks would do the best. So she invested, and did better than a lot of people could have hoped. Took every last sent she had out of the stocks and put into savings for me and created a savings for my sis who was two, I was three at the time. My dad… he thought that he should have gotten the money, so, he left, pissed off and wanting nothing to do with my mom. He was smart enough to know who would have won any legal battle. When I started school, I talked to everybody, everybody talked back. Nothing really bad happened, yeah there were bullies. But I had friends, until everybody learned what money was."

Chie seemed confused, hell I'd be surprised if you followed what the hell was going on. I said my mom was smart, not sane. "Everyone was always happy when they got ten bucks, I ask my mom about an allowance. That's when she told me about my savings, she had also started a business that was small, but very successful. So we also had a hell of a lot of extra money."

Chie's eyes showed that while she was still confused a little, again, smart mom, not sane. She was also sad. I continued to search for the right CD, not in country, go fucking figure. "I told all my friends, and as it goes, kids tell their parents everything until high school, their parents turned them against me. That and I was starting to develop… um, unique ways of acting. People made jokes, but I learned by then not to let bother me. Then middle school hit, that's when it truly got bad, when everyone split into their groups of everything. No one thought I fitted in, so they acted like I was an outsider. The jocks… sorry jokes, became real douches and started to physically abuse me. It got to the point that I came home one day with a broken arm and a cut on the back of my head, the cut was deep enough that I needed stitches. It didn't stop there though." Tears started to form in my eyes at this point; I wiped my eyes for a moment. I was prepared to continue until a felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked over and Chie actually had started to cry a little, I smiled. "It wasn't all bad, after all the shit that happened; I actually made a friend in my fourth school. And without all of that, I never would have met the three greatest friends I have ever had, here in foggy little Inaba."

Chie smiled sadly up at me, she knew most of the story after that. That was all she needed to hear to know that she didn't want the rest other than the end. The part where I came to Inaba "You helped us as well, you know…"

"Yeah," I looked down at the CD that was currently in my hand. I eyes widened as I noticed the band and title of the CD. "FOUND IT!"

I shot my hands with the CD up into the air like I had found a gift from god! The band that had produced my favorite song at that time. I found the CD, _Drunken Lullabies_. Chie just looked at the CD like I was crazy, I ran up to the counter and slapped the CD gently onto the counter. "I would love to take this CD strait out of the store, but sense that is against the law! I would love to purchase this CD right the hell now!"

The clerk looked at the CD and shrugged; he scanned it and looked at me. "Nine ninety-nine." I quickly as possible pulled out a debit card and swiped it threw the machine. "Do you want a b-"

"NOPE!" I grabbed the CD off the counter smiling like a mad man. "I don't need the reset!" With that, I grabbed Chie gently by the wrist and dashed for the door. Chie seemed like she was actually scared at the moment that I was dragging her away… until we stopped by the first place that I had told her about my past.

"What are you doing?" Chie asked as I gently made her sit down on the bench.

That's when, once again I started to sing. "_Must it take a life for hateful eyes to glisten once again. Five hundred years like Gelignite, have blown us all to hell!"_

Chie was confused, at first, so where other who were just passing by, but they stayed to watch. Chie suddenly blushed, she figured out that I was actually singing for her… in a very public area. I started to move my arms with the lyrics to get my point across. "_What savior rests while on his cross we die. Forgotten freedom burns, has the Shepard led his lambs astray, to the bigot and the gun!? Must it take a life for hateful eyes to glisten once again?"_ Now I was smiling like an idiot, some people who recognized the song started to tap the beat of the song, which was like, what? Three people, but that was enough for more people to start keeping the beat of the song. "_Cause we find ourselves in the same old mess! Singin' drunken lullabies! I watch and stare as Rosin's eyes. Turn a darker shade of red, and the bullet with this sniper lie in their bloody, gutless cell!"_

Chie started to notice that no one had figured out what I was doing, so she thought… what the hell, she started to clap along with the beat. "_Must we starve on crumbs from long ago? Through these bars of men made steel. Is it a great or little thing we fought? Knelt the conscience blessed to kill! Must it take a life for hateful eyes to glisten once again? Cause we find ourselves in the same old mess! Singin' drunken lullabies! Ah, but maybe it's the way you were taught. Or maybe it's the way we fought. But may these shadows rise to walk again, with lessons truly learnt. When the blossom flowers in each our hearts. Shall beat a new found flame!"_

As I neared the end, I had managed to gather a small crowd that I had just now noticed. Chie smiled at me, her cheeks still a little red with embarrassment. I didn't think I was all that great a singer. Still I just shrugged and finished strong! "_Must it take a life for hateful eyes to glisten once again? Cause we find ourselves in the same old mess! Singin' drunken lullabies! Cause we find ourselves in the same old mess! Singin' drunken lullabies! Singin' druuunken luuuuulaaaabies!_"

With that, people started to clap and actually cheer at me, again, I didn't think it was that great. I hardly did the song justice. I looked at Chie and smiled as I waved at the, what about fifteen people who actually decided to even try and listen… HEY, for me that is a sizeable crowd! Anyway, I sat next to Chie with a smile, suddenly exhausted. "What was that for?"

"What?" I turned my head to look at Chie, she was smiling though. I was an idiot to not understand what she meant at that moment. She meant the song. When I realized that, I of course facepalmed. "Oh! That is the song that helped me make to Inaba my last week in the states. It's my favorite song too!"

"What is it even about?"

"Hell if I know…"

* * *

_**Yep, I'm ending it here today, and I know what you're thinking "TWO CHAPTERS IN ONE DAY… WHAAA?" Don't worry, I just had a hell of a lot of free time today, and this is to make it up for the weekend. By the incase you were wondering.**_

_** SONGS**_

_**Misfit by Thebandwithnoname**_

_**Victim by Avenged Sevenfold**_

_**Drunken Lullabies by Flogging Molly**_


	13. Chapter 13: Strength of the Chariot

April 25, 2011

Forecast… Cloudy

"Morning Yu," I was able to catch up to our almost silent hero. Let's face it, if he was truly silent he would never say a thing. "Looks like it's gonna rain soon, at least… that's what the weather forecast said."

"Good thing we saved Yukiko then, right?" Yu smiled as we continued to go to school. "Hey, did you hear about the cultural clubs?"

"Cultural clubs?" I just raised an eyebrow at the man, yeah, he's insane. "What the hell are those?"

"Really?" Yu gave me the look like I was insane… Did it really take him this long to figure it out? Well, whatever. "I thought you would have liked those."

"I don't do clubs," I rubbed the back of my neck. "I mean, it's not like I don't like people, it's just… I don't know, I just don't like the idea about them. Unless if you count the investigation team a club."

"Really…" Yu just shrugged, that's when he gave me a horrible thing to think about. "You midterms are coming up soon?"

"MIDTERMS!?" I stopped walking, he was shitting me right! I that's what finals were! Not a test half way through each half of the year! "What the HELL!?"

Yu started laughing at me and still walking. He was actually getting a kick out of this!? Asshole. "IT'S NOT FUNNY!"

"It is to me!"

* * *

School Gates

"Morning." Me and Yu both turned around to see Chie running up to us. I smiled as she came to a stop next to us. "Hey, you guys been checking the weather reports? It's not gonna be good by the end of the week!"

Yu and me both had the same thought at the same time. "Good thing we got Yukiko out."

Chie shook her head for a moment, me and Yu said it at the same time. We kinda sounded like a broken record at that moment. "Yo!"

Yosuke was the next one to show up. He, unfortantely, had a different topic he wanted to talk about. "Sup dude?"

"You," Yosuke pointed at me for a moment with a big ass smile on his face. "Yesterday, when you were singing in Junes-"

"You sang in the middle of a mall?" Yu raised an eyebrow at me.

"I was excited…"

"Anyway!" Yosuke tried to get us back on track. "People have been sending the video around, and my parents saw it. I think they want you try and promote Ju-"

"No." I turned and walked towards the school just as the bell began to ring.

"That was way too fast of an answer…" Yu shook his head as everyone ran to catch to me.

* * *

Time Change: Early Morning to Morning

"Good morning!" This was a surprise for once in our lives, here in Inaba. The P.E. teacher was actually teaching a P.E. CLASS! I thought the world was gonna end. "Today, I'll have you run so much, you'll have sore muscles!"

Everyone groaned as I facepalmed, I was gonna train with Chie today after school again. I really didn't need to be sore before I got sore from fight… That sounds wrong…. "Hahaha!" Mr. Kondo… yep I thought he was an asshole that day! "Don't look so sad! Everything requires muscles, after all! Why am I going to make you run until you're sore?" Because you hate us? "Because that's how your muscles grow efficiently!" Bull… "Hey, Kreed! Answer this one: what's it called when you gain more muscle after getting sore through exercise?"

What kinda question was that!? There was no logical way to answer it! So what do you do in a situation like this… ya wing it! "Over… um, overcompensation…? I think…" What!? It was the first thing that came to my mind!

"You must be working out, Kreed!" I gave a look that should have said that he was a freaking psychopath! "That's right!" My jaw dropped, so did Yosuke's, who was standing next to me. "It's called overcompensation! If you rest for a couple of days after getting muscle soreness, you'll have more muscle than you started with!" I didn't hear the rest of the lesson, I was guessing at the random crap the teachers threw my way… and was getting all of it right! What. The. Fuck!

* * *

Time Change: Morning to After School

"GAH!" I landed flat as Chie kicked me in my stomach. We were training, yet Kondo had still made us run, so I could barely move as Chie's kicks kept knocking me down. "I-I think that's enough trying for one day… Plaese!?"

Chie laughed a little, she knew I was sore. Yet, she wanted to train just a little bit today, mainly using it as revenge for the yesterday… I mean, I did kinda embarrass her… Still, that didn't mean she had to make me lose my ability to live! "Alright… I think you suffered enough for one day."

"THANK YOU GOD!" I cried out as I fell backwards to lie on the ground. Until I tried to get up… "Um… Chie…"

"Yeah?"

"Can you help me get up…?" I tried to look at her, but I really couldn't move, that much. "Please? Chie!?"

Chie kinda laughed at me as she walked over and helped me up. After a moment of pulling and me hitting my head back on the ground, which hurt like a bitch mind you. "That is one reason why I trust my life with you… Except when you smashed my head on the ground."

"W-well that was your fault!" Chie started to blush, it wasn't really that weird, except, her blush was a bright pink… Not red… why, I really couldn't tell. I just shrugged and smiled. "C'mon… I-I wanna go eat somewhere… I heard of a place from Yosuke."

"Sure," I smiled as I started to walk away, then I stopped and turned back to Chie. "Um…"

"What is it?" Chie just stood there and looked at me for a moment. I closed one eye and rubbed the back of my head in embaressment.

"I have no freaking clue where this place is," I kinda looked up at the sky at that moment. "Soooo…"

"Need me to lead?"

"Yes!"

* * *

Shopping District

"REALLY!?" I was freaking shocked, and I felt like an idiot for never noticing the food joint in question. "It's right next to AIYA'S!"

"Yeah," Chie smiled as her mouth started to water a bit. "Have you had the steak skewers? The meat is tender and delicious, and they hardly cost anything!"

"I thought you heard about this place because of Yosuke?" It was an honest question, yet again, the pinkish blush returned to her face. Was she sick… meh, it was possibility, after all, colds usually don't disappear after a day… usually.

"I did," Chie quickly went back into "food" mode and the blush vanished. "I just tried it recently… Wait… it might not even be cow meat."

"That is a disturbing thought…" I shuddered for a moment, thinking about trying something that might not be actual steak. What else could it be though, fish, chicken… lamb!? Well, I doubted that, the store would have closed if that was true. At least I hoped… "I think I just lost my appetite…"

"Just kidding…" Chie chuckled nervously at her "joke." "Whoa… thinking about it, that's kinda gross, haha…"

"Not helping…" I pinched the bridge of my noise, just below my glasses. Why below? Because I can! Anyway, back on track here… at that moment, a cop walked over to the store and just looked around, it seemed like he was looking for something or someone. Who really knew, still Chie completely took it the wrong way.

"The police are here…" She really didn't think about it until she looked back at me, at that point… she started to freak out about the perfect steak skewers. "Th-then is this place is really serving fake meat…?"

"I highly doubt it…" Still gross though. The cop turned to use, it didn't really seem like it was us he was interested in… unless Yosuke brought weapons to Junes again… I really wouldn't hold it past him, idiot… Why would you take any weapon into a department store in the first place!? S-sorry, back on track again!

"Excuse me." The cop seemed calm enough, so whatever he was doing it wasn't that urgent… well, when you had a serial murder in your town, not a lot of other things take importance over that… if you're a cop that is…

"Y-yes?" Chie almost busted out into a cold sweat… I almost smacked myself when the next words left her mouth… "I haven't eaten any of the meat today, I swear!"

I just shook my head as the cop gave her a look that screamed he thought she was crazy… apparently… when it came to her meat, she was…

Yet the cop just kept going through with his job, like nothing had really just happened… good on him… I hope. "Lately, there's been several incidents with a group of teenagers bullying people around here."

The word itself seemed to take Chie's interest away from her meat, and into what the cop was trying to do. I knew what he was doing… he was trying to either get us to slip up and give him information to tell him it was us, and if it wasn't us, make us call the cops when we see it. Still, it grabbed Chie's attention. "Bullying?"

"Extortion, if you will." I shook my head, I swore if I ever cot the assholes doing this… they wouldn't walk away unscratched! "Have you seen anyone suspicious?"

"N-no," Way to prove your inacense Chie! Yet the cop didn't seem to think Chie was capable of doing it, if it was because she was a girl, he had anything coming… she could probably kick the snot out of the current UFC camp. Yet, it was probably because seemed clueless about the matter. "No one in particular…"

"You're the first person we had seen since we got out of school officer." It was the truth though, and luckily the cop did believe us. He just nodded at us.

"Hmmm, I see… Well, you two be careful then." With that the cop turned away from the shop and walked towards the South end of the shopping district. I was pissed to say the least, there was no way in hell I was gonna let anyone get away with that. Chie was looking at the ground, as I checked for an item in my bag. I nodded knowing it was there. Chie turned back to me at that moment.

"I'm glad it wasn't the meat…" I finally facepalmed.

"What made you think it was the meat in the first place!?" Chie kicked me in the shine after that comment; her cheeks were red with embarrassment at that moment.

"But still, bullying!?" Chie was no red with rage at the people doing the bullying, just like me. "What cowards, ganging up on the weak like that!"

"Almost everyone who's 'popular' do that!" I rubbed the back of my head. I was ready to go hunt the bastards down myself. "I'm not gonna let anyone get away with this!"

"I agree!" It was weird how I found out that we had something in common, only because we wanted to kick the shit out of some coward bullies. "It's so cruel! And stupid! We'll grab'em and make them apologize! Right, Kreed?"

"I had another thing in mind," I shrugged at that moment, I was showing a very violent side of me at that moment. "But sure that works…"

Chie looked shocked, but that quickly turned into a smile. "I knew you would say that… Mowing down villains and saving the weak, a lone female fighter stands…" I raised an eyebrow at her, then smiled brightly.

"With her partner!" Chie nodded as I played along with her.

"To protect the town's peace," She walked off to the billboard that hid the food joint, we were supposed to be eating at… and did an epic pose, and it worked… kinda… "She throws herself into the battlefield, unbeknownst to all…!"

"I think we have a new hero everybody!" I smiled as Chie finished her little speech and the ruined it just as fast…

"Ooh, yeah! That sounds cool!" Chie was practically beaming at that moment. It made me smile to see her that happy. I don't know way, but hell, if she was happy, so was I. "Kreed-kun, leave it to me!" That was when the bright pink blush returned, she had walked away from the sign, though, I'm kinda ashamed that I still had no idea what she was blushing for… Yet, I was slowly coming to the realization, the thought crossed my mind in that instant… _W-why is she blushing like that so much… co-could she… no! That can't be right…_ "Though I'd feel better about it if you helped… And it'd make me… kinda happy…"

I about went into a coughing fit, but I controlled myself enough to smile at her and nod. "I'd be happy to help the great hero Sotanaka!"

Chie laughed a little, I just pushed the blushing out of my mind for that time. "We should eat first. 'Don't think. Feel…' right? Actually in this case, would it be, 'Don't think. Eat?"

I smiled as we started to walk up to the counter to order, only to hear someone yell in the distance… where was the cop when you needed him!? "Wh-what the hell!? Now I'm really gonna beat them! This was supposed to be a break from exercise!"

"S-stop it!" I stopped when I actually heard the voice, I was actually thinking of letting whoever it was get away with beating the shit out of the guy.

"Shut up you dumbass!"

"Yeah, that's right. We all know it's time to cough up."

"What? This's it? Quit bullshiting us."

"_Not him!"_ Chie stopped dead in her tracks, this was one thing that she would go start into doing… "I'm going to rip them a new one for ruining this day!"

"Th-that voice…" Chie looked surprised as we turned to the alleyway that the voices were coming from "It can't be…! Let's go, Kreed-kun!"

As we ran up, I could clearly see all four people, yet the thugs are so… unimportant that all I'm going to tell you about them is… their leader was so trying to steal my beanie, looked better on me! I was gonna jump the morons… until Chie got rid of our element of surprise. "Takeshi!?"

The largest one of the thugs, surprising no the leader… was the first one to state to obvious! "Hey, someone's here."

"Whatever." The leader, surprisingly the smallest of the group… was a little irritaited by high school kids trying to stop him from getting his money… douche! "Let's take their money while we're at it."

"This guy only had one thousand yen on him." Big fucking surprise!

"We can hear you ya know...?" I was about the smack the asshole with my bag, it would hurt a lot more than it sounded trust me.

"Ch-Chie!" The coward moron, Takeshi ran right behind Chie the moment he got the opening to!

"DON'T SAY OUR NAMES!" I smacked him upside the head. "_I hope that hurt like a BITCH!"_

"Hey!" The punks turned towards us now. "Whaddya runnin' for? Gonna hid behind a girl, huh?" I was losing my fuse at this point, yep, trying to piss off a guy who tried to commit suicide, not your best move… Why? Because he knows how to kill… Chie was starting to surprise me with how much she actually seemed to care about anyone. I would have left the guy for dead after the shit he pulled last time. Still, no one deserved to be beaten to as low as I had gone.

"Are you all right?" Chie looked out right pissed the fuck off! Not at Takeshi, at the thugs…

"I-I'm fine…" Takeshi sounded scared, good for him… welcome to the real world asswipe! "Y-you've always been good at stuff like this! Th-they took all my money. You're gonna get them for me, right!?"

"Jesus fucking CHRIST!" I turned around and pulled a ten one thousand yen bills out of my pocket and threw them at the prick! "Is that all you fucking care about! Then take the fucking money!"

Everyone stared at me; no one understood what I had just done… I did it for Chie; he had proven he never gave a rat's ass about her! So I gave him what he wanted. Yet, the douche listened to me and grabbed my money! Asshole! Chie turned back to the thugs, a little scared at my display of anger.

"We-well, it does tick me off!" She got in a fighting stance ready to beat the ever loving shit out of all three of them, yet I knew they would play dirty… "Hey, cowards! Ganging up on on guy… You oughtta be ashamed!"

"T-take care of them for me!" With that… Takeshi split, he was gone faster than he had appeared into my life… and hopefully he gone for good!

"Uh, wow," Chie was just as surprised as me… which was pretty fucking surprised. "That was fast! Sheesh!" She turned back to the thugs and got ready to fight them again. "C'mon, what's the matter? Let's throw down!"

"Huh? What's with this bitch?" I was so close to losing it! These assholes were so close to getting the ever-loving shit beaten out of them! "Y'think you're all that? I ain't afraid to hit a girl… We'll kick your ass!"

I couldn't take it anymore, I don't know what came over me… but, I gently pushed Chie aside as a reached for my bag and held it by the strap. "Kr-Kreed!?"

"Who the hell is this asshole!?" The leader punk was official pissed; I just stood there, not answering his question. The punk was getting really pissed now. "Fine then! We'll just kick your ass!"

The leader punk swung at my face, I was still sore, but I was able to dodge the punch. That's when I reached into my bag and pulled out my bat I used in the Shadow World… I know, I know… How's a bat like that gonna fit in a school bag...? Well, it's a big bag. Anyway, as I ducked under the swing, I brought the bat up one handed, into the prick's jaw, I hit him hard enough that he stumbled backwards. I started to sing an appropriate song for this moment in my life. "_Iiiii come undone, I think I'll kill everyone. My, what have I done. FUCK IT let's kill everyone!"_

The other thugs thought I got a lucky hit in and pushed their leader right back at me. I used his ribs as a baseball and smashed him against the wall in the alley. Then when he rebounded off the wall… I punched him in the face hard enough to knock him out. He dropped so fast his buddies did a double take before grabbing him and dragging him away from me. I just put the bat over my shoulder, in all honesty I kept the bat, just in case the killer tried to come after the same people twice, or we got him in the act. "Screw this! L-let's get the hell out of here!" When they were out of sight, I put the bat back in my bag and turned back to Chie, I had lost control for a minute, only time in my life that had ever happened! I would never let it happen again… I hoped.

"Assholes!" I swung the bag back over my shoulder and looked away from Chie. "Next time they even think about that…" I meant putting a hand on Chie, but… well, she didn't hear that.

"What the heck…" Chie sounded upset, I was kinda confused. We stopped them for the day, maybe even a few days, especially with the rain coming in the next few days. "Running away when you step in."

"What?"

"Why'd you butt in?" Chie was yelling at… at me!? What the fuck!? I was trying to protect her! Yet, I didn't get mad at her, just confused as hell! "What, you thought you couldn't leave it up to me!? I could've handled them myself!?"

"I know you could of…" I believed it, but they crossed the one line I knew never to cross. Threaten to actually beat a woman to a bloody pulp, and my best friend no less! They had it coming! "They, just crossed the wrong with me. Sorry…"

Chie looked at the ground away from me. I felt bad, because she thought I didn't trust her. "No, I'm sorry…" I looked up at her with surprise. She really was mature for the way she usually acted. "I charged in by myself… Caused you trouble…"

"Hey…" I put a hand on her shoulder. "It's fine… You aren't any trouble to me. Just know that you aren't alone in this."

"Thanks." She actually looked sad, I really wanted to try and cheer her up. "You're right, huh? I gotta remember I'm not alone… It's always like that. Everyone's doing their best…" I knew what she was getting at, yet… I knew she need to get it off of her chest. "Then I start to worry that it's all up to me… and I've gotta work harder…"

"It's good to work harder." I smiled while looking at the sky. "Because one day, it might actually be up to you to save everyone."

"Yeah…" Chie looked at my face and my eyes as I looked back to her. "I worry that someday, I'll end up causing even more trouble, like I did today…"

"What trouble?" I put a hand on her shoulder, she needed to stop beating herself up. She was… was… perfect as she was… it was the first time that thought reached my head. I couldn't believe it, why did I… I knew why I thought it; I was just scared of it still. "You protected someone!"

Chie shook her head at me. "Haha… I'm so stupid." I shook my head, yet, the pinkish blush returned to her face AGAIN… I was so baffled by what it even meant! "Kreed-kun… Thank you. Umm…" Her blushed smile turned into a shocked face with blush on it. "N-never mind!" The blush vanished as she gained a look of shame. "I need to work harder, huh? Why am I moping…? I'll think about it some."

"Y-yeah…" I was scared about what was going on in her head. I was scared that if she found out what I was thinking… she would treat me like my old schools had. Still, I put on a brave face and patted her on the shoulder. "C'mon, the steak skewers are on me, Miss Hero…"

"I'm not a hero you know…"

"Do I have a reason to lie to you?" She just about gave her usual answer, yet she thought about it for a moment…

"No."

* * *

_**Not much to say. I'm still sick, but still Ima update as much as possible. So songs**_

_**Songs**_

_**Kill Everyone by Hollywood Undead**_


	14. Chapter 14: The Wheel falls

April 26, 2011

Forecast… Cloudy

"I heard there's weird animal is dwelling in the shopping district area." Mrs. Nakayama, or in my mind… Mrs. Depressing… yeah, no joke. If I wasn't in a weird place, to the point that I couldn't even focus on school… her lessons might have made me depressed again. She needed a real chill pill. "Supposedly, it knows how to search the change dispenser of the vending machines. How amazing is that?"

I whispered quietly to Chie. "About as amazing as how pessimistic she is." She had to try and stop herself from laughing out loud. I thought it was funny as hell too, but I held my voice better than Chie did at that moment.

"Even animals can learn the value of money…" I almost face palmed, go figure that the one good teacher at this school tried to dress like an Egyptian, this place was so messed up… "I guess, I'll have to keep my wallet more secure from now on. Students, at your age might not understand, but money is very important! You can't do anything without it!"

Chie looked over to me as I was clenching my fist, the most money had ever done for me is make me want to die! So I really didn't want to hear this. "And you know, smarts don't guarantee wealth. Anyway, I guess I should do what they pay me for and lecture you."

"Please do so I don't lose it…" I sighed and placed a hand against forehead, while looking to the ceiling of the class. "I don't wanna be here today…"

"Let's see, we left off talking about the properties of whole numbers…" Chie was glad to find a reason to jump to another topic. And she used it well, unless it was a teacher that asked her… School was not Chie's strong point. "Well, Miss Satonaka. Tell me which of these don't exist."

"Uh…" Chie was actually scared that she would get it wrong. "Which one was it? Do you know, Kreed-kun? I don't think I've heard of any these!"

"Marriage numbers…" I whispered it to her and she quickly blurted the answer out without even asking if I was sure that I was right! I actually did face palm now.

"That's actually correct. Next time, Miss Satonaka, please just say honestly if you don't know the answer." And we were found out just like that, Yosuke smiled at us, like he knew about a joke that we didn't hear… I didn't listen to anything that she said after that. Yet, Chie's voice grabbed my attention again.

"Guess she knew I was asking you…" Chie looked at me with a smile on her face, even though I just wanted to get the hell out of school at that moment, her smile still made me smile back. "But… thanks, Kreed-kun!"

"No problem…" my smile was bright again. "Miss Hero…"

* * *

Time Change: Morning to After school

"I was going to take a break from training today, but," I rubbed the back of my head as me and Chie stood at the flood plain. It was Tuesday, so Yosuke had to work and Yu had started music club… How many freaking clubs is he gonna be in? "I figured it was better than ignoring you."

"Wh-what!?" Chie got flustered as the joke left my mouth; her face got bright red as well. I laughed at her and held my hands up in defense.

"I'm joking!"

"Whatever," Chie smiled back at me. Though she quickly changed topic as we just stood there, finishing up the training for the day. "Oh yeah! I forgot, I hung out with Yukiko after we ate yesterday. She'll back in school in a few days! Though she's well enough to walk around now."

"That's cool," I smiled as I walked to the nearby bench and sat down. Today Chie was the only one who really practiced. Though it was fun just to talk to her, and you know… not get the shit beaten out of me! "Man, it sucks that it's gonna rain for the next few days though…"

"Why?" Chie titled her head at me, obviously confused by what was happening.

"We can't really hang out for the next few days…" I sighed as Chie's face turned the pinkish color again, though I really didn't get to see it as I was looking up.

"We-well, in the movie I watched the other day," Chie was quick to change the subject as fast as possible… which made me look back up at her. "This guy knocked down a tree using only his leg! How does someone kick that hard…? Just practice?"

"Steroids…?" I shrugged as she raised an eyebrow at me… I couldn't help but laugh at the face she was making. "I-I'm sor-sorry, I wa-was joking!"

"Ch-Chie!" I stopped laughing almost immediately as the voice reached my ears. I looked up to see none other than the asshole who stole my money… Takeshi! He owns me ten thousand yen!

"Oh," Chie didn't pissed off! What. The. Fuck!? "Hey Takeshi… W-were you robbed again?" WHY DID SHE WANT TO HELP HIM!?

"No…" Takeshi had his hands in his pockets. "I took off right after that, right? So I thought I'd apologize…"

"Good!" I stood up next to him. "I want my ten thousand yen back." Before he could even respond Chie spoke up.

"Why don't you be a man and admit you ran away?" Takeshi actually seemed upset about that…

"Wh-what…? Were you this anal before?" Oh, he was really asking for a beat down! You do NOT say that about Chie… wait… um, girls… damn… I fucked up! "Tch, if you lose that sunny attitude, you won't have anything left."

Just before I punched him, which would have been in like two seconds… Chie actually yelled at the asshole! "Shut up!"

"Speaking of which…" Oh, I was ready to take out my baseball bat and beat the fucker down myself! "What's up with Yukiko-san? I saw her with you the other day… She seemed weirdly cheerful… She had this funky laugh, y'know…?"

"That funky laugh…" I could tell Chie was also at her limit, so I was gonna let her have the honors of beating this asshole to bits! "That's how she really is."

"Oh, you've rubbed off on her, huh?" If Chie didn't do something soon, I was… The only reason that comment bothered me… he seemed MAD about that! There was NOTHING wrong with Chie! "I can't believe it… That's not Yukiko-san… She was better gloomy…" Again Chie beat me to the punch.

"Look." Wait… she didn't sound pissed, WHY!? "If you get into trouble again, I'll step in and help." I looked at Chie with a look of concern in my eyes… I figured it out, she loved him once. It was the only reason she put up with the bullshit he was pulling. I felt a slight tug at my chest as the words left her mouth. I didn't want to admit I knew why, but I did… I was still scared, ever more so now… that she would run.

"Huh?" The fact that he didn't even know how Chie had felt… It made it even worse, I was calm now, just sad… "Oh, uh… Thanks…"

Then Chie pulled out a trump card, it freaking scared the ever loving shit out of me, I actually fell flat on my ass! "So why don't you shut your mouth about Yukiko!? You don't know anything about her! She's a good person, got it!?"

"Wh-what the hell?" at that moment, Takeshi realized that Chie was no longer wrapped around his little retard finger. And he turned into an Olympic runner to get the hell away from us. I smiled again, and yelled after him… It just made him run faster.

"You still owe me ten thousand yen!" When he was out of ear shot, I turned back to Chie, she looked sad to have kicked him out of her life, yet even sadder about the stuff he said about Yukiko… "You okay…?"

"Way back, I saw Yukiko sitting by the road, holding a dog. I asked her what's up and she said she ran away from home…" Chie didn't look me in the eye, though; she did look at the stairs nearby. That told me that she made the most important friend she had ever had here… Where she was training with someone who was almost a stranger to her. It felt good to know that she was able to share her past with me like I had with her. "She'd picked up the dog, but her parents told her she couldn't have a pet, and that she'd have to get rid of it… She looked like she was dead or something… I tried everything I could think of to make her laugh." Still looking away from me, Chie sounded like she was about to cry… I thought I was gonna cry too. Funny huh? The guy who thought that killing himself was the best option in life was about to cry to a story of a reason for living… "And that's how we became friends…" Chie turned to me again with determination in her eyes! "From that moment on… I told myself I'd protect Yukiko… But… Somewhere along the way, I messed up, and that Shadow popped out…"

I wanted to make her feel better anyway I could, but I knew she had to get everything off of her chest at this exact moment… "After that, I thought I'd try to focus on what's good about me. I swore to quit being nothing but the girl Yukiko can rely on… So… I just tried my best." I could see everything that she had pent inside of herself… it was time she opened up, that way… another Shadow didn't appear, she wasn't doing it for that reason though… she was doing because… because she trusted me. Me… I fucked up more in my life than she thought she had, and she trusted me. "At finding the culprit and stuff… just generally being more reliable… That's all. I feel like I missed the point…"

"You faced yourself a lot better than I had…" I dropped my head down in shame about what happened when my shadow had gone berserk… "That's the first step Chie, it really is…" I looked back up to her to see her face light up with the bright pink blush again, I was still too scared to dive into the meaning behind it… God, I was a coward.

"Thanks." Chie was smiling behind the blush, I was fighting myself not to blurt out like an idiot, how I was feeling… "You're too kind. Maybe… half a step?" Her smile faded as she back to the ground. "I wonder if there's anyone out there… who can say, 'This is what makes me worthwhile!' I guess everyone's looking for it…"

"I know I am…" I sighed, but smiled again… I had an idea that she might have killed me for, but I still wanted to give her the idea. Yet she started to talk.

"I bet. Oh yeah…" Chie laughed as she continued to talk. "That dog Yukiko picked up? It's gotten really fat at my place. Come by and see it sometime! It smells, but it's cute!" The blush actually appeared again as she said this. "Maybe I'll walk it over to your house."

"We-well" I blushed a little as well. "Why don't we spend so time together tomorrow night?"

"Wh-what?" The blush turned a dark red as I proposed my Idea.

"I mean we can't train…" I rubbed the back of my neck, I was scared shitless that she would run. "S-so, we could wa-watch movies or play video games…"

"Ye-yeah," The blush returned to its pinkish glow. "I'd like that…"

"O-o-okay…" I started shaking a little, she actually agreed to this! "So, tomorrow, if you can… Let's go get some more steak skewers, I'm hungry."

"Yeah…" I swore that the next day we practiced… the next day we practiced…

* * *

_**Wow, I actually got a chapter in today… I didn't think I would. Oh well, here is chapter 14, I hope you enjoyed!**_


	15. Chapter 15: The Reunion

April 27, 2011

Forecast… Rain

"I can't believe nothing happened at school today!" I held my forehead as Chie and I walked to from school to my house. Not a single thing had really happened today, I was actually hoping that something would have, that way I could have kept the fact that Chie was coming over to my house out of my head. I was kinda nervous, but hey… she was still my friend. So I didn't think it was that big of a deal.

"Well," Chie had a new umbrella as well, so it was less awkward as we moved slowly to my house. Her face was a little red, I couldn't blame her though, if anyone saw us walk into my house… well you know how fast rumors get around in this town… "At least it helped the day go by quickly."

"Y-yeah…" We continued down the roads, silence had befallen us. I was so freaking nervous, after about half an hour we reached my first door. "W-well, welcome back to my evil lair."

Chie nodded as she slipped into my house, I looked at the rain and shrugged. It gave no signs of letting up any time soon. I slipped in after Chie; nothing had really changed since the last time she was here. "I'm not gonna get sick if I eat anything right?"

I gave Chie a weird look, I honestly forgot about the chips for a moment… Yeah, I know, it makes me seem like a jackass. So what, I remembered after a moment or two. "Oh, oh! The chips… sorry about still…" I rubbed the back of my head for a moment.

"It's fine," Chie smiled as she looked around the living room and kitchen for a moment. "So, where do I put my stuff?"

"Here," I held out my hand and Chie slipped off her backpack, of which I took it and walked out of the room and into my room. I gently set her back pack on my bed so that nothing fell out of the pack. When I made it back into the living room Chie was looking at something on the coffee table near the TV… My family portrait, I knew that's what it was. In the picture, it was just before I became suicidal. I looked almost the same, only then I had my contacts in… My mom was in a T-shirt and jeans; she was thin with very tan skin and black hair. My sister had a grand old smile on her face; she had brown hair with a tortoise dyed strip in it. She wore a red hoodie with a black tank top underneath it and a skirt on.

I was actually starting to miss them, yet I knew they were coming soon… my mom to check up on me in person, because when your son was on Suicide Watch, just calling does nothing. My sister actually wanted to study abroad… She was fluent in four languages and graduated when she was a grade a head, so she'd be a third year. "You know…?"

Chie jumped about five feet into the air when I spoke; she hadn't known I was there. "HOLY-!?"

I smiled, my mom would be the first person to think me and her were dating… Wait… Yu was, damnit! Logic… OH CRAP! What was the score!? "I'm sorry… I didn't mean to scare you Chie!" She just smiled a bit at me as her face turned bright red with embarrassment, yeah, this was as awkward for her as it was for me… She turned back to the picture.

"This you and your family?" I nodded, for the first time in my life. I was happy that someone didn't hate me because my family was freaking rich!

"Yeah," I pointed at my mom. "That's my mom."

"Wow, she looks so young…" I smiled and moved to my sister.

"My little sis," I was actually happy that the awkward atmosphere was disappearing. "She's a major tomboy and she might just start school in Inaba…"

"Really?" Chie actually looked surprise; of course she didn't know how it worked. "Why?"

"It's how it works with us…" I walked over to the couch and plopped down, holding a controller in my hand… I turned on the TV and my 360. Holding a second controller, I smiled evilly. "Wanna play?"

Chie plopped down next to me and took the controller. "What game…?"

"You'll see…" The screen showed that it was an original X-box game, Chie gave me a look of confusion. That's when the title showed up. "Halo Reach!"

"You're a Halo fan…?" Chie raised an eyebrow at me… Oh god not this fights… "Why not Call of Duty?"

"NO!" I pointed a finger at her, I hated this fight, but I trump card for this fight! "I will not be a fan of that series!"

"Why?" Chie just looked at me as I quickly went into matchmaking in the Infection game type. "It's kinda fun… And doesn't have as much Sci-fi."

"You never say that to a fan of Doctor Who…" I sighed as the game started, we both focused on the game while talking, we were both survivors to begin with. It was one of the first maps that Forge World has. I got into a sniper spot and pulled out the pistol while Chie keep out her shot gun. "And what's wrong with Sci-fi?"

"I don't know…" Chie shrugged as she shot a zombie that came up the ramp at us. I shot two with the pistol… both died as the shots left the virtual clip. "I guess it's just not as realistic."

"This coming from a girl who jumps into TVs to save people," I missed one zombie as he rolled under the shot, our allies were dropping like flies while me and Chie were still standing, yet I was running low on ammo. "Zombie coming up the ramp… And that's the point; in reality… life can really bite you in the ass. In fiction, like Sci-fi, there are no limits! Even if fact is stranger than fiction!"

"I guess," Chie shrugged as she quickly killed the zombie I missed plus two more. "I'm running low."

"Me too," I sighed as we switched places; she started to snipe the zombies while I shot gunned them. "Hey, aren't you gonna get in trouble if you stay too late?"

"I told my parents I was going to Yukiko's."

"And their okay with that on a school day?" It was an honest question, after asking it, I noticed the game give us the one minute warning. Sure me and Chie were camping, but we were killing like it was nobody's business.

"Yeah," I heard Chie's pistol run out almost at the same time as my shotgun did. I switched back to my pistol still with a full clip; me and Chie ran down the ramp and just mowed our way through the guys online at that time. "We used to have sleep overs all the time."

I stopped and looked at for a moment, yet that was all one of the zombies needed to kill me. "_Son of a bi-_ WAIT! Sleep over…? Huh wha-!?"

"What?" Chie really didn't understand why I was flipping out! How could she not get this! "I meant with Yukiko… Though if it is raining when I decide to leave…"

God, this was so wrong… this was something I was trying to avoid. "Oh god… this is not right!"

"W-well," Chie turned to look at me. "Don't even think about doing anything funny or you will be hereby sentenced to one thousand kicks to the face!"

"I'm not that kind of guy!" I backed away by leaning away from her. This was getting awkward again, and we both knew it… So the only thing that I could think to do was play some music on my 360, so I did just that… and what was the first song to play?

_Show me how to lie; you're getting better all the time. Turning all against the one, as you step back into line… A mob jumps to their feet. Now dance fucker, dance! He never had, and no one ever knew it was really only you._

I sighed; this was way too awkward of a day for me. I was about to give up on it, until Chie started to really get into playing Halo all of a sudden. I smiled a bit as she started focusing on the screen; I suddenly noticed things that I hadn't about Chie until that moment... Like, way that she actually had stood up to those thugs actually made me realize how much I wanted to be there for her and everyone that I had met and made friends with…

Still, I had a long ways to go before I could do that… I still had to learn to do all that for myself, let only let others rely on me. After a minute or two I finally turned back to the screen, it was a team death match round with ten minutes left. I had enough time to find the shotgun and needler, no one stood in my way long. Chie quickly found me and started to cover me. We really did make a good team, we kinda covered each other's weaknesses. I wondered if that would help any in the shadow world while we were fighting. Still, we were starting to have some real fun with the game and with each other. After an hour or so… we lost track, we stopped playing Halo and Chie grabbed something out of her pocket. "Here, let's watch it now!"

"What is it?" I grabbed the case from her; it was a DVD, but not any DVD… I knew it from the title. _Trial of the Dragon_, I laughed a bit. "Really?"

Chie crossed her arms at me. "What? It's my favorite movie!"

I put my hand on her shoulder and laughed again. I looked back up to her and looked her in the eye for a moment, she turned away her cheeks turning that lightish pink again. "Sure, why not?"

I put the DVD into the 360 and sat next to her again. We started to watch the movie, it's been so long since I've seen that movie that I can't remember what it was really about. Still, I noticed how much she was really into the movie. Her eyes were glued to the screen the whole time; I was worried that the movie might have eaten her soul… What? I've seen weirder… after all, I know Teddie don't I? Still, she sat there so involved in her movie that she didn't even see me accidently notice that I was starting to stare at her. I turned away from her, my cheeks starting to turn dark red. I didn't even finish the movie before I blacked out right there on the couch next to Chie.

The next thing I knew, I woke to my alarm coming from my room, I slowly got up and walked into room and turned the alarm off…

* * *

Date Change: April 26, 2011 to April 27, 2011

I walked back into the living room to see Chie still curled up on the couch! I freaked out for a moment, until I remembered that her parents thought that she was at Yukiko's, and we all know how responsible she is! I sighed loudly, I was about to go and wake her up… until I heard a knock at my door. Like the biggest DUMBASS ever, I went to the door first! I flung the door open to tell the person to wait like twenty minutes… That's when I say him; I froze as I slowly took in who was standing in front of me… He was about the same height as me, his brown hair was cut almost to a buzz cut, and his eyes were a dark green. He wore a light grey hoodie with multiple pockets that basically lined the hoodie. He also had on blue jeans and had some bags with him. "KRIS!"

He quickly put a hand on my shoulder as I stood there frozen still; I thought I was still dreaming. I had to be, yet what made it worse was that Chie woke up at that moment, she slowly rose from the couch and the person noticed this. "Um, _Kris… what have you been doing!?"_

* * *

_**CLIFF HANGER COMPLETE! Yes, I'm being an ass about this… unfortunately I will not be able to update after this until Monday… I know it sucks. I hope you enjoyed, and feedback is welcome!**_

_**Songs**_

_**You're Gonna go Far Kid by The Offspring**_


	16. Chapter 16: House Guest

April 28, 2011

I walked back into the living room to see Chie still curled up on the couch! I freaked out for a moment, until I remembered that her parents thought that she was at Yukiko's, and we all know how responsible she is! I sighed loudly, I was about to go and wake her up… until I heard a knock at my door. Like the biggest DUMBASS ever, I went to the door first! I flung the door open to tell the person to wait like twenty minutes… That's when I say him; I froze as I slowly took in who was standing in front of me… He was about the same height as me, his brown hair was cut almost to a buzz cut, and his eyes were a dark green. He wore a light grey hoodie with multiple pockets that basically lined the hoodie. He also had on blue jeans and had some bags with him. "KRIS!"

He quickly put a hand on my shoulder as I stood there frozen still; I thought I was still dreaming. I had to be, yet what made it worse was that Chie woke up at that moment, she slowly rose from the couch and the person noticed this. "Um, _Kris… what have you been doing!?"_

"W-Will?" It wasn't enough that I was freaking a bit about Chie actually having slept over. "What are- _what in god's name you doing here!?_"

"_Me?" _Will smiled at me with a smug grin on his face. It was been two years since I last saw him… "_I graduated early! I came to see you and meet new people! So, again… why is there a girl in your house?"_

I unfroze from my shock to turn around and see Chie slowly look around my house… She had no idea that she fell asleep! I started to flip out now. "SHIT, Chie we actually fell asleep!"

"_Wait…"_ I turned back to Will who had a very surprised look on his face. "_You can speak Japanese!? Hold on… let me try something. _Hel-hello there, name Will, you name?"

I facepalmed… he sounded like an idiot, I hope he was joking! Chie looked scared for a moment, until he opened his mouth and tried to talk… She realized the same thing I did. Will, most likely, could speak Japanese very well. "Um… Chie Sotanaka… Kreed-kun…?"

"He was the only other friend I ever made." I held my face; I really was not in the mood for this. I pulled out my phone at that moment to check the charge… That's when I noticed the I had an unread text. "What the hell!? _Crash here!? As in live here!? Why!?_"

"_I just got here and I don't really have much money…"_ I once again faced palmed, why was I so unfortunate in my life, what did I ever do to piss off the powers that be!? I also noticed the time at that moment… Me and Chie were gonna be late if we didn't haul ass!

"Shit! Chie," I turned around and ran into the kitchen and threw Chie a muffin, then ran into my room and got her stuff. "We need to leave… NOW! _Will, fine stay here at least until I get home! I'll think about it while I'm at school…"_

"_Thanks Kris!_" Will smiled as me and Chie busted out the door and down the street. This was gonna be a long day.

* * *

Flood Plain, on the way to School!

Me and Chie were trying our absolute best to not look like we just came from the same house. Yet… it seemed like no one cared! Which made it easy for us; we just had to not talk about it… ever! Another thing that made it easier on us was that Yu was not too far ahead of us! Chie smiled, which made me believe that she didn't have a horrible time yesterday… SHIT, don't talk about it! "Mornin'!"

"Sup Yu," I was still a little confused about Will just showing up out of buttfuck nowhere, but that wouldn't stop me from having fun with my friends! "What's up?"

"The sky…" I smiled; Yu was the first person in a long time that actually got that joke! Chie rolled her eyes at us for moment, a smile quickly grew on her face.

"Hey hey!" We both turned to Chie."What what?" I smiled right back at her, she didn't get irritated very easily did she… not that that's a bad thing!

"Yukiko told me that she'll be able to come to school again in two days!" She was smiling like a mad man the whole time too. "Oh man, I'm glad. I'm so happy!"

"Those are the same thing Chie." I showed one of my bad habits for the first time since moving to Inaba, when I noticed what I did, I quickly slapped my forehead. "Sorry bad habit of correcting people!"

"I didn't know you did that?" Yu actually seemed surprised by this.

"Yeah," I sighed, we were getting close to the school… "Why do you think I yell at you and Yosuke for being idiots? Oh, and Chie, it's thanks to you that we saved Yukiko."

"C'mon," Chie blushed a little with her light pink hue as the words left my mouth. "You know it's because all four of us did our best. Actually, more like the four of us, and one animal-thingy…?"

"Well," I sighed as we reached the front gates of the school. "Let's hope that her memory hasn't gotten worse over time… Which it usually does…"

* * *

Time Change: Early Morning to Lunchtime

I was just walking around the school for a bit, hoping to clear my mind with the whole Will business… Yet nothing was getting my mind off of it. That's when I noticed Yu walking down the stairs, I quickly tried to catch him before he was lost in the crowd going to what I hoped was the cafeteria… "Yu!"

"Oh Kreed," Yu smiled as I slid to a stop in front of him. "What's up?"

"You got any clubs after school?" Yu just shook his head at me. That was good; I knew the only way for me to get over the whole ordeal was to talk it out with someone. "Cool, can I talk to you about something after school then?"

"Yeah." Yu smiled as he did, my face grew a bright smile. I knew I had to get an answer to this problem, and fast. "I'll be there… Where you wanna meet at?"

I thought about it for a moment. "The stair well near the top of the school… You better not forget Narukami!"

"I won't Richards."

* * *

Time Change: Lunchtime to After School

"Thanks for coming up here man…" I sighed sitting against the wall on the top step next to the door that lead to the roof of the school. Yu had a blank expression as he walked up to me, he seemed to have guessed what I wanted to talk about.

"How could I forget?" Yu sat down against the opposite wall on the stair below the one I was on. "So, what's wrong?"

"That obvious huh?" I sighed as I now looked to the ceiling hoping for there to be a sign above my head that would give me all the answers I needed in life, especially right now! "My only friend from back in the states just showed up at my door today…"

"Is that a bad thing…?" I blew hot air out of my nose as the question left his mouth. Start to the point eh?

"No," I looked back at Yu, slowly bring my head down. "It's just that I haven't stayed in touch with him for the last five years…"

"Why didn't you?" Yu was really trying to poke and prod his away around in the dark wasn't he… Oh well.

"It's a not so long story…" Yu shifted around in his spot against the wall for a moment.

"We got time." I smiled at Yu and rubbed the back of my head.

"Man," I looked around for a moment, hoping for it to have stopped raining and for Chie to grab me by the wrist and drag me to train with her. Yet, no such thing was going to happen… "Where to start… I guess it all started when I was in middle school, I think it was sixth, no eighth grade… Geez, I can't even my story straight, well… um, so I meet a guy named Will, this was during all the bullying a shit that really got to me just started, so I had hope to make a friend and all that jazz…" I sighed, I really didn't like the part of this story that was coming up. "After a few months we were good friends, apparently all the people who thought it was wrong for me to have a friend… So they all decided to pull a prank on me. They waited until my last day at that school to pull too… thinking back on it now, it seemed like Will was in on it, but… he seems to have no idea about it, so… It was just the jokes, they tricked me into believing that Will was behind the school, and when I got there… they jumped me. I had to start at a new school with a black eye and cuts all over… luckily none of them turned into scars."

"So," Yu seemed like he was paying attention the whole time. "You feel betrayed by him?"

"Kinda…" I sighed again, man I was doing that a lot today. "I got over a lot of stuff when I accepted my shadow and got my Persona, but… It's easy to accept something that doesn't come chasing you down."

"He's here Inaba?" Yu finally say why I was having this talk with him… not like I was that straight with it to begin with but still!

"Yeah," I was really worried that a lot of people would take this the wrong way. "He doesn't know very much Japanese and he graduated early… Add all that to the fact he wants to crash at my place for a while!"

"Well," Yu stood up and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Do you want him there?"

"That's just it… I don't know!" I stood up as well, only I opened the door to the roof and stepped into the rain. "I like the rain, its calming to me most of the time… Well, now it's not if we are trying to save someone."

"I can understand that." I was glad he wasn't mad at me for switching the topic all of a sudden. "And about your friend… I think that if you trust him still, go ahead and let him stay for a while. After all, you have to get lonely in your house."

"Thanks man," I turned to Yu and smiled a bit. He looked surprised for a moment but smiled quickly afterwards. "I think I should get home before I get another cold… See ya tomorrow Yu."

With that I walked down the stairs of the school and got my stuff to leave.

* * *

Time Change: After School to Evening

"_Yo Will,_" It was late when I finally made it home, almost midnight. When I got home, Will was sitting on the couch staring at a laptop screen. Yu was right, Will was a friend and I trusted him, so I was gonna let him stay here for a while. No harm no done I hope. Yet after this realization, I needed to get a hell of a lot more food from the store, so that's what took me so long.

"_Sup Kris?"_ I sighed, he was the only person calling me by that name, it kinda sucked, but it couldn't hurt right?

"_Dude, call me Kreed now okay?"_ I took in a deep breath as I prepared to let him stay. "_And, about you staying here…"_

"_Yeah?"_ Will suddenly looked scared, I looked at the clock… I had to wrap this up quickly and turn on the TV, it was almost Midnight, even without Yukiko in the TV, I was sure that it would still show the Midnight Channel…

"_You can stay here…" _Will jumped out of his seat with the laptop still in his hands, he had a smile on his face. "_At least until March… and you have to pull some of the weight around here, so you might need to get a job, I don't need one only because of the money my mom gave me. Also, find someone to teach you Japanese."_

"_Got it!_" Will set the computer down and ran over and shook my hand. Unfortunately that was when the clock struck twelve… from behind Will I heard the TV snap on. Will quickly turned around and saw the blank screen that was produced by the Midnight Channel… Great he saw it, now this was gonna be an even longer year!

* * *

_**Here it is, just like I promised! Hope you enjoyed, feedback is very much welcome!**_


	17. Chapter 17: New Investigator Yukiko

April 29, 2011

Forecast… Raining, plus Fog around Midnight

"_For the last time Will…_" Will was having difficulty understanding what he had seen last night. I was trying to play it off, if he ever heard the rumors about the Midnight Channel, well, if he could ever understand it… I was in trouble. "_It was a power surge, it happened the last there was a storm too."_

"_I've never seen a storm do that to a TV!"_ He would not let this go! For the love of god… and I didn't have school this day… So what do you do in a situation like this?

"_Look,"_ I placed my hand on my forehead. "_I have midterms coming up, so I'm gonna study in my room… Just watch TV or play video games, I got plenty of food for the both of us to eat. So help yourself!"_

"_Fine,"_ I sighed as I walked into my room and locked myself in there, that's when my phone started to ring. I got a text from Chie…

_Yukiko will back in school tomorrow! Yosuke wants to try and talk to her after school._

I smiled; I could tell that she was very much excited by Yukiko coming back to school…

_See you tomorrow._

* * *

Time Change: Morning to Evening

"Due to the weekend rainfall, clear skies seem unlikely in the area." I was actually watching the news for once, yet, it was only so that I could see if anyone else had gone missing. I was gonna have problems trying to watch the Midnight Channel now…

"_What'd she say?_" Yep, I was going to kill him before the end of the year, all I would have to do is push into the TV and summon my Persona! Still, I had hope… there was little amount of hope, but still hope!

"_There's gonna be fog tomorrow."_

"_Why?"_ OH MY FUCKING GOD! You have got to kidding me!

"_It's just how the weather works here, now SHHH!"_ I turned my attention back to the screen, hoping to god he would be quiet bothering me until it was over!

"A thick fog is expected to set in tonight and remain until tomorrow morning, with heaviest concentration in the Inaba area." Well, at least we saved Yukiko in time… at least.

* * *

Date Change: April 29 to April 30, 2011

Forecast… Sunny (Thank god!)

"_I'm so freaking tired!_" I yelled as I walked down the stairs getting ready to walk out of the door as Will, was already playing video games.

"_Didn't you sleep last night?_" It was a simply question with a semi simple answer. No, I did not sleep until after Midnight, why? I was worried about the Midnight Channel.

"_I-I couldn't sleep until after Midnight…"_ I sighed as I walked to the door. "_I maybe home after it gets dark today… a friend of ours is back in school today."_

"_Okay…?"_ before he could finish talking, I busted out of the door and on my way to school. I was gonna have real difficulty keeping the Midnight Channel a secret until the killer was in cuffs! I was looking into the sky as I walking until I bashed into someone. I was so used to this kinda of thing, that I tried to guess who it was now…

"Ow," I looked down and saw Yosuke… damn you Logic! I think it's now three to five, logic still losing. "Oh, Kreed! Sup man?"

"An old friend driving me nuts!" Yosuke gave me a look like I was insane, which wasn't that far off, but still. "Why are giving me that look."

"You'd think that you'd have mercury poisoning…"

"Why?"

"Cause you are as mad as a hatter!" I was surprised that Yosuke knew what he was talking about.

"I'm worse than a hatter!" I spun on one foot and bowed. Yosuke laughed a little bit.

"Oh, yeah!" Yosuke gained an evil smile as he looked at me now. "I hear that you and Chie have been spending a lot of time together… sooo, what's up?"

"Wh-what!?" I was so shocked by the statement that I almost fell over… "DUDE! I can grantee you that there is nothing going on between us!"

"Yeah right!" Yosuke laughed, I had fallen into his trap now! And I knew it! "I bet you ten thousand yen that you end up dating her before the end of May!"

"You're on!" I shook Yosuke's hand at this point… god, that was the dumbest bet I had ever made! Still, I had nothing against Yosuke, so we continued on to school making jokes on the way.

* * *

Time Change: Early Morning to Morning

"Hm? Yukiko-san is back. That's good, I'm glad the cutie in the class was able to return." What the fuck!? I think someone needed to give the girls a rape whistle in this class, this teacher was a pedo! "Wouldn't you guys agree?"

"Not my type…" I sighed as I whispered to Chie, she was kinda confused on how to feel about that. "Hey, Yosuke, doesn't he seem like a bit of a pedo right now?"

"Dude!" Yosuke almost yelled out his agreement. "Don't say that he'll hear you!"

"I don't care!"

"Oooops! I mean, all of you are cute! No, really!" Yosuke and me both facepalmed at that moment.

"Never mind," Yosuke whispered to me. "I agree with you now…"

"Er, please, don't tell your parents that I said that, will ya?" Mr. Yamada was so not helping his case, in fact if there was a trial, he would have been building a case against himself! "I don't wanna get in trouble. Ahem, anyway, I have an interesting topic four you today. Close your books and take a look at the handout."

"I'm scared to look…" I still did what he said.

"Sounds like a good to pick on the city boy, Yu-kun." OH MY GOD! They didn't pick me for once! Yu stood up quickly and waited for his chance to answer the question. "What is the greatest canyon in the solar system?"

"Valles Marineris." Yu didn't even miss a beat to answer the question. I had never heard of that canyon before!

"Wow, you really are from the city!" How did what he just say make him from the city!? "Well, I guess that doesn't have anything to do with it. Hahaha."

"Don't quiet your day job to become a comedian…" I whispered it to Chie and Yosuke, both of them just nodded in agreement.

"The Valles Marineris on Mars is ten times larger than the Grand Canyon!" That was when I lost interest and spaced off. I was only really worried about what I knew we were gonna do after school.

* * *

Time Change: Morning to After School

The investigation team was on the roof of the school waiting for Yukiko to get back from cooking noodles. Let it be known that they were instant… thank god! Well, anyway, Yukiko returned to the roof after a short amount of time. "Sorry to keep you waiting. The soba is yours, right Chie?"

"Thanks!" Chie reached up for her noodles, I could kinda smell them at that moment. It smelled okay, not as good as those steak skewers from the last I ate with Chie though! Which helped my stomach not to growl. "Ooooh, that smells so gooood… These instant noodles are just the thing to help me through club…" I had no idea she was in a club… wait, did this count as a club!? "How much longer do I have to wait on this?"

"It still needs a few minutes." Yukiko took a seat next to Chie, Yosuke sat next to Yu who was standing, and I was cross legged sitting on the ground somewhere in the middle. I actually chose to sit like that, everyone offered me a seat, but I still just sat on the ground.

"So," Chie turned to Yosuke. "Why're we here…? Oh yeah, we were going to ask Yukiko what happened."

"Yukiko-san," Yosuke didn't waste any time jumping right into the topic of the murders, after all… I guess he started the investigation team! "I hate to bring up stuff you'd rather not think about… But I need to ask you again. Did you recall anything about when you got kidnapped?"

"If you can't," I butted in, I knew we all wanted to know who the killer was, but it was so unlikely that we were going to get anything out of Yukiko… We waited too long. "It's okay, just anything you can give us will help."

"No… I don't." I shrugged, not like we were going to go back to square one with this discovery. After all, we never left square one! "I thought I might remember something if I let it sit for a while, but as time passes, it only gets hazier…"

"It happens to everyone…" I sighed as I now lay back on the ground, my legs still crossed.

"I think…" I quickly looked up at Yukiko, she actually remembered something! This was good! "the doorbell rang at the entrance… and someone called for me…" That was news to us! This was great actually, now we could start to think of someone who could get away with kidnapping someone by walking up to the door of their houses! "But when I woke up after that, I was already in the castle… I'n sorry."

"No need to apologize." Chie was quick to try and console her friend. This was good, this was awesome, and we actually got somewhere.

"Actually," I sat up and interlocked my fingers, using them to put my chin down on. "Yukiko has actually helped us a little!"

"Oh yeah," Yosuke looked right at me. "How so…?"

"We now know that the killer just walked up to her front door." I smiled up at everyone. "It doesn't really take anyone out of the equation here; yet it does make it easier for us to try and get witnesses if necessary!"

"You're right!" Yosuke looked up for a moment. "If all of this is true, then that's one daring criminal. What kind of killer would ring the doorbell?"

"One that's madder than a hatter…?" Yosuke grinned at me as everyone else just stared at me… Yep… if that is what we were going by, then I was the main suspect! Good thing everyone knew better!

Chie was the one person who actually kept us on track at that moment. "I wonder why whoever it is would do stuff like this."

"We won't know until we confront 'em ourselves…" Everyone else was getting way to serious… sooo, I pulled out a trump card!

"Or," Everyone looked right at me. "We could just have Chie kick the ever loving shit out of them! I'd go for that!" Everyone, except Yukiko started to laugh at the joke, Yukiko seemed like she didn't get the joke! HOW COULD SHE NOT!? Yosuke looked back at Yukiko again, trying to catch his breath.

"Oh yeah, we never told you. Narukami and me are gonna catch the culprit ourselves!" I knew what Yosuke was getting at, and to be honest… it was one of the best ideas he would ever have. "The police are out of their league on this case, but we got Personas."

"Could you lend us a hand?" Yu knew what to do, he was a smart guy… that proven by today's class question! Yet, Yukiko just seemed surprised and couldn't really talk much after that question hit her ears. Chie took this moment to get very much excited about having her best friend on the team. "I'm helping out too! I can't believe someone would throw people into a place like that. I'm gonna sock whoever's doing this! Plus Kreed-kun, is helping out too!"

"Yup," I sat up and gave the evil grin a try. "I'm just your friendly insane Persona-user of an insane puppet! Nothing to fear!"

We all looked around for a moment before bursting out into laughter! After a moment or two, Yukiko spoke up. "Let me help too. I want to know why this is happening… Especially is someone hates me so much they want to kill me. I don't want to run away from myself anymore."

Yosuke hopped off of his seat and folded his arms. "Alright! Then let's all work together and catch this asshole!"

"Agreed."

Yu look surprised for a moment again, and then he went back to his normal look of almost no emotion. Chie started to speak again before I could pursue questioning Yu if he was okay. "But how're we going to find them? We don't have a single lead yet."

"Other than the doorbell…"

"I'm the third one to be targeted so far…" Yukiko broke my train of thought for a moment, wait… okay I think I see a similarity, yet, I think it would be far to have Yosuke run the show for a bit. "But I have a feeling this isn't the end of it. If we had an idea of who might be targeted next, wouldn't we have an advantage over the killer?"

"You can say that again…" I sighed; we really didn't have much to go off of… Hell, they targets could be completely picked at random for all we knew! I just hoped that wasn't the case.

"So we'll outsmart them, huh…?" Yosuke was in deep that about this. It sounded like a good idea. "Yeah, that might work. Okay, so let's figure out what ties the victims together… First, there was that announcer."

"What was her name again…" I wasn't paying attetntion to the news when I first moved to Inaba, so I could only guess really. "Wasn't like, Mayumi Yamano or something like that?"

"Exactly that…" Yosuke shook his head at me… Man I was truly a good guesser. "Second was Saki Konishi… Senpai. Third was Yukiko Amagi."

"All three are girls and have had ties to the first victim." I wasted no time proposing my hypothesis on the kidnappings.

"Bingo." Yosuke looked right at me as the theory left my mouth. This theory pissed Chie off at the… using the news name for him, the Hanged Man Murder…

"How dare he target females!" Chie was truly open with most of her feelings, it was comforting, even if she was one of the most violent girls I had ever seen! "Now that's unforgivable! The culprit's gotta be some kinda pervert…"

"Did anyone listen to my entire theory?" I sighed.

"Yeah," Yosuke turned from Chie to me and back again. "The second and third victims had some sort of connection to the first, like Kreed-san had proposed."

"Hey," Chie was also quick to change some of her emotions, which was kinda funny… "That's right. Yukiko and Saki-senpai both had connections to that announcer…"

"That's true." We were all in deep thought about this entire ordeal, and we were actually making a lot of progress… Man, maybe was should have made it a club… like what the S.E.- never mind, I'm getting off track again. "Then… does that mean females connected in some way to Ms. Yamano's case are being targeted…?"

"Most likely." I looked to the sky again and started to rock from side to side. I had to look totally insane to all four of them… yet, they had seen my past, if I hadn't come out a little insane… then something had gonna very wrong.

"There's another angle we can take, too." Yosuke was responding to Yukiko, yet was also telling this to all of us. He could be a good motivational speaker… if he wasn't as much as a perv. "If another person disappears…"

"You think they'd be on that Midnight Channel?" Chie was actually questioning this…? Well, whatever, I had noticed that too. "That happened right before Yukiko was kidnapped, too."

"As well as Saki and that Yamano!" I pointed into the sky still rocking.

"It's kinda like a ransom note." Now Yosuke was thinking like a hatter! It was an insane theory… but damn did it fit! "We still don't know why that happens, but we'll have to rely on it for now."

"Then, we'll have to wait until it rains again…" I was just thinking out loud at that moment, yet everyone nodded in agreement. "Well, just keep an eye on the weather right?"

"Yeah," Yu was in complete agreement with this plan, hell… I think we all were! "So, watch the forecast as often as possible."

"By the way," Yosuke had finally jumped off of one train of thought, on too another one. "Aren't those done by now?"

"Whoa, that's right!" Now Chie was in "food mode" and nothing was gonna change that. "Chow time!" The girls started to chow down on their instant noodles, I could smell the noodle, I had to plug my nose just so I wouldn't steal the noodles.

"Hey, could I try just a little bit of that!?" Yosuke was asking CHIE to eat her food… bad move dude… bad move! "Just one tiny bite!"

"Hands off the soba, pal!" Chie was now staring daggers his way, I was afraid that they might actually stab Yosuke in the throat and heart. "Go get your own if you want some. Rrrngh… Okay, just one bite, got it?" I was amazed! Chie really was a very mature girl, when you didn't try and talk about food or kung-fu movies… which just about everything got her thinking about her kung-fu. Still, it was fun just to talk to her. She handed Yosuke the noodles and Yu looked Yukiko's way, not "Yu" too!

"Do you want to try some?" Yu nodded at Yukiko and took the bowl from Yukiko, both him and Yosuke took one bite and looked like they were in paradise!

"It's soooo gooood…" Oh no, Yosuke need to stop there or he was gonna eat everything! I knew it was coming! "The aroma, the flavor, and the texture all combined… This is perfect!"

"Quick! Take the bowls ba-" To late… Yosuke and Yu just started to shovel the instant noodles into their mouths; I didn't think that they were even chewing! "Damn…"

Chie jumped to her feet, she was clearly pissed the FUCK off! "Aaaack! What the hell are you doing!?"

Both of the guys stopped eating almost immediately, yet they had still eaten most of the soba noodles, much to Chie's and Yukiko's displeasure! "You ate everthing…"

"M-my fried tofu…"

"Guys!" Both Yu and Yosuke looked at me; I had put on my best "scared for my life" face. "Run and don't stop running until you hit Tokyo!"

Before either of them could react, Chie got in their faces. "I hope you guys understand what this means."

Yosuke was the first to try and sweet talk Chie… "W-wait wait wait! Stop! I'm Sorry! I-I'll buy you steak! It'll be on me! Y-you hear me? The very best!"

Both Chie and me looked right at Yosuke. "Steak…!?" Chie looked back at me, and I at her. "Hey Yosuke! You still owe me a steak too!"

Yosuke knew what had to be done, yet Yukiko was still focused on… "My tofu…" Yeah, that.

"C'mon, Yukiko. There's steak in it for us now." Chie was so into this idea, I started to laugh as I watched my friends go through with this agreement.

"Quickly!" I jumped to my feet and ran to the stairs of the school building. "To the best steak place in town!"

"Filet, filet, filet, fiet mignon!" I head Chie chat in the background as I hit the stairs and practically jumped those fuckers!

* * *

Junes

"I said the best," We sat at Junes as Chie, Yukiko, and me all had a steak in front of us. "Not the rest!"

"Man," Yosuke was actually relieved about the fact we were eating at a food court and not Aiya's, WHAT THE FUCK!? "Talk about great timing. We just started serving grilled steak today. We're doing our part to spread this town's specialty dish. Plus, we've already got an excellent grill."

"That's just a yakisoba griddle…" Chie sighed as she looked at the steak in front of us… I started to eat and just about spaced out. "Oh well, steak is steak. It's far from a filet steak though…"

That was the point that I actually started to space for the moment… I was literally lost in the food I was eating. It was okay, definitely not the greatest steak I had ever had… After a few minutes or so, I heard someone address me. "KREED!"

"Huh?" I looked up to see everyone looking at me. "What? Sorry, I spaced… I'll pay attention from here on out!"

"Okay…" Yosuke sighed as all four of us heard a familiar voice walking near the table.

"Man, I thought the countryside would be a snooze, but it's proving to be a lot more exciting than I thought…" Creeper much!? The cop that was working with Yu's uncle walked near us. "Ooh, they updated the menu!"

"Huh?" Chie noticed him too. "Isn't he that detective?"

"Hey, you were at Dojima-san's…" I raised an eyebrow at him, until I realized he was talking to Yu and not me… heh… "Ahaha… I-I'm not… Oh wait! Hey, this is great timing after all. Dojima-san said that he'll be leaving work on schedule tonight. Could you pass that on to Nanako-chan?" Adachi turned to the rest of the gang, including me. "Yo! I'm Adachi, Dojima-san's gofer… Err, I mean, his partner."

"Nice save." I smiled as I put another piece of steak into my mouth. Yosuke smiled at Adachi.

"Are you this busy every day?" Adachi looked like he had been seen stealing, or he was at a court hearing.

"Huh? Oh, well the public seems to be getting a charge out of these cases, but we can't leave it at that." Wait! Was he telling US important information...? Damn, smooth Yosuke, way to go!

"Sorry to but in," I looked up at Chie now, Jesus… my friends knew how to get info! "But could it be that the killer targeted Saki-senpai in order to silence her?"

"U-ummm, you sure get to the heart of the matter. Yikes… Haha." Adachi should have shut up right then and there, but he just kept talking… "Of course, we're also thinking along those lines. She was killed right after the announcer's body was found. If the killer was trying to silence her, there might've been something at the scene only she would have understood." Why was he saying this… why!? "Which would mean that the culprit may be someone close to Ms. Konishi. Nothing like that points to Misuzu Hiiragi, so… Ooh, I might have stumbled across something here…" WAIT, HE DIDN'T EVEN KNOW!? Well, this town is screwed! "W-wait, were you listening to all that!? Crap! Me and my big mouth…" Oh, now he realizes what he was doing! Yet he just smiled nervously at us and kept on talking. "D-don't tell anyone I said any of that, or Dojima-san will flay me alive… Relax, kids, the police are on the job. See ya." With that Adachi walked away from us, and once he was out of hearing range… Yosuke looked at us.

Chie was the first one to say anything though. "You were right, Yosuke. The police are totally useless… Augh! My steak's getting cold!"

"Why do you think I've been eating mine this whole time…?" I smiled at her as I shoveled the last piece into my mouth. Yosuke was obviously a little pissed about the now giant dent in his wallet.

"Could you shut up about the steak for five seconds…?" I couldn't help but laugh, after a few more minutes everyone was walking to the electric department, yet I stopped Chie and Yukiko.

"Hey Yukiko…"

"Yes," She just looked at me, while Chie seemed a little nervous about what I was about to say. "What is it Kreed-kun…?"

"I have a friend who can't speak Japanese and is living with me…" I think she knew where this was going. "Could you help him out that is if you know any English…?"

"Sure," Yukiko smiled as she turned to follow the guys. "I'd be happy to help him; he'd have to wait until the afternoon though."

"Wait…" Chie gave me a look of concern. "He's not a…?"

"No," I smiled as I walked in front of her, leaning down so my face was near hers. "He is not like Yosuke, so he's not a pervert!"

"Oh!"

* * *

Shadow World: Entrance

"Wow… This really is inside the TV…" Yukiko came with us into the TV so that we could get her, her one of a kind… Teddie glasses.

"You're surprised by this…?" I smiled as I slowly sat down on a railing so I could see everything that was happening. Teddie wobbled over to us, right in front of Yukiko.

"It's Teddie…" Yukiko didn't really seem shocked by the bear, no surprise there. "Then it wasn't a dream."

"Are you feeling better, Yuki-chan?" Teddie sound a little nervous about something, whatever it was, I will never truly know… "I did what you said! I've been a good bear!"

"Oh, I see." Yukiko was having some trouble with making out the signs that Ted was letting off. Better for her that way. "Good boy!"

"W-well, this bear's part of the reason we want to find the culprit." I facepalmed at my own stupidity… I never realized that Ted was one of the reasons for the investigation team forming.

"What…?" I almost fell off the railing the wrong way. "Was I even here for that conversation!?"

"Not really." Yu just shrugged as I fell down, towards the group, not off the entire platform. The rest of the team just continued on talking with Ted.

"I'm one of the group now too." Yukiko seemed like she was talking to a little kid… well, Teddie did kinda act like one, so maybe she was. "Let's work together, okay?"

"Yep!" I swore that Teddie almost jumped with joy was the words left his mouth. "I was thinking the same thing! That's why I got these ready for you, Yuki-chan!" With that, Teddie walked up to Yukiko and handed her a pair of glasses, they thin framed and light grey.

"Oh," Yukiko put the glasses on and noticed that the fog had completely vanished from her view as she put them on. "So these are what everyone's wearing. Wait, what about Kreed-kun, I thought that he already had glasses, right?"

"Teddie already gave me a pair," I pushed the glasses farther up on my nose, so I wasn't looking over them. "They are better than the old pair I had."

"Oh," Yukiko smiled lightly at Teddie. "Thank you, Teddie. You're right though… It's as if the fog doesn't exist…"

"Hey, tell me something." Chie was giving Teddie a look of confusion. "How come you have so many pairs of glasses?"

"Yeah," I rubbed the back of my head. "I've been wondering that ever since you perfectly fixed my glasses…"

" Excellent question!" Teddie smiled like he had solved the world hunger problem… which was highly unlikely with how much he eats… "Guess what? I'm the one who makes them. And I didn't fix them, I remade them."

"Wait," I was so confused at that moment remade them! What the hell!? "WHAT!? Why!?"

"I've lived here for a long time." Teddie sounded like he was starting to reminisce about some really great memories. "So I came up with some ways to be comfortable here."

"I see." Yukiko understood this a lot more than I was… Well, she was an A+ student. "But don't you need a pair?"

"Oooh, good point." Teddie was really getting into this for some reason or another. "Another great question! Listen to this! My eyes themselves are lenses!"

"That is messed up…" I grimaced as the bear continued to talk.

"You didn't know?"

"Of course not…" Yosuke sighed as the bear finally made the realization that we had no damn clue what he was talking about! Of course, Yosuke's comment ticked off Ted.

"Wh-why are you being so mean?" Teddie stomped his foot for a moment. "You act like you're not interested!"

"I don't think we really are…" I looked away from the bear and tried to look for anything else to keep my focus on. "Though, that does make me question what he is…"

"I'm a really dexterous bear!" Teddie help his hands up and slowly walked closer to Yosuke. "See how smoothly my fingers move!" Wait, what!? I turned and looked back at Ted as he started to wiggle his "fingers" back and forth…

"What the hell!? Now I'm lost!" This was so messed up, in so many ways! Yosuke must have felt the same thing, as he pushed the bear to the ground.

"What am I even looking at!?" Teddie acted like those toys that never stay on their backs and rolled right back to his feet. Yet, not before dropping something. Yukiko and me were the only people who noticed it.

"What the hell!?"

"Hm?" Yukiko looked down at them. "Teddie, you dropped something…"

Teddie turned to look at the items that hit the floor. "Oh, that's a pair I kinda screwed up on."

"How did you scr-" Before I could even finish that sentence, Yukiko put the glasses on her face. Oh, my, god! I started to laugh uncontrably! "Wh-what th-the hel-hell Yu-Yuk-Yukik-iko!?"

"Y-Yukiko?" Chie was just confused by the way Yukiko was acting, I thought it was funny as hell. Okay, Yukiko was cooler than I thought! Yukiko couldn't help but giggle a bit as well.

"How do I look?" The glasses were those gag ones, ya know, the glasses with the big one way lenses that had the hypno swirls in them, and a fake nose and mustache!

"Looks great." Yu smiled a bit, he sounded like he was close to laughing as well. I was having trouble breathing at this point, but I composed myself enough to say at least one word!

"Awesome!" I fell flat on my ass, I was laughing so much! Teddie was taking this a little too seriously. "Y-you ca-can always make the sha-shadows laug-laugh to de-death!"

"Do you like that one, Yuki-chan?" He truly thought that she was serious!

"I want to wear this one." I burst out in an even bigger fit of laughter, everyone was watching me like I had finally snapped! I gave them the thumbs up, letting them one I was okay! "It's even got a nose guard!"

"Oh no you don't!" Chie just about stomped her foot, I was having a blast. I hadn't laughed this much in a long time!

"How bear-y unfortunate…" Teddie, she was JOKING! "That pair doesn't have the right lenses in. Guess I should've made an actual pair."

I finally came down from my comedic high of laughter… "Please don't, I don't want to die laughing!"

"Dude," Yosuke helped to my feet. "Why did you laugh so much!?"

"I have such an easy sense of humor…" I smiled at Yosuke. "I laugh at the most simply of jokes."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"That's too bad about the glasses…" Yukiko actually sounded depressed about the glasses… why!? She took them off and held them out to Chie… oh no! "Here, Chie. Your turn!"

"Oh no!" I sat back down on the ground so that I wouldn't fall again. Chie sighed for a moment before grabbing the glasses.

"Man… All right, fine…" The moment Chie put them on and she turned to me, Yukiko could still see the glasses though. Yukiko started to giggle, it quickly gained speed though. Both me and Yukiko started to laugh so much, I actually started to ROFL! "How'd it come to this…?"

Yosuke was started to get worried about Yukiko, why not me!? Because I already told him what was happening. "Y-Yukiko-san? Hellooo…?"

Chie sighed as she started to talk. "There goes one of Yukiko's laughing fits… I never thought she'd do it when someone besides me was around. These stupid glasses are useless for investigating!"

"But brilliant for a good laugh!" I stood up and put a hand on Chie's shoulder… we do that a lot… "Come on, lighten up a bit!"

Chie sighed, yet another thing came to her mind. "I would if I didn't have these stupid glasses on! I mean, what the hell's this nose for, anyway!?"

Teddie put on his best "I'm mad with you" face. "Nice work, huh? That's what happens when you guys leave me here and I get bored!"

"W-well," Yosuke was also able to put a smile his face. Hell, the only person who didn't find it funny was Chie! "I'm glad she's in spirits again… I guess…"

"Oh Chie, the look on your face…" Yukiko was still laughing… Even I thought it wasn't that funny anymore… "Snrk… Hahaha, it was so funny! I-I can't stop… laugh- Heehee! Ohhh, my stomach, ahaha…"

"Yeah," I sighed and took the glasses from Chie. "I'm gonna keep these away from Yukiko…"

"Please do!" Chie also sighed, after that moment, we all said goodbye to Teddie and left the TV world.

* * *

Time Change: After School to Evening

"I'm sorry you had to see that…" Chie sighed as we walked home from Junes together. I smiled, I had fun today though, so not a bad thing! "She hardly very gets like that."

"I had fun," I shrugged as I started to spin on one foot and hope around with my hands in my pockets. "I haven't laughed like that in years! It felt good, besides… no harm done, after all, Yukiko and everyone seems to be a bit more open after facing their shadows!"

"I guess that's true…" Chie just looked at me as I kept acting like a fool! "What are you doing?"

"Being me," I smiled as I stopped, my face mere inches away from hers, she blushed that light pink color, when I noticed it… I blushed too. "And I've always wanted to be this goofy! Because for me… being as mad as a hatter is fun. I never really got to be that goofy kid, remember…"

"I-I'm sorry, Kreed-kun." I moved away from her and spun so that I was next to her. "I didn't mean to-"

"It's fine Chie-chan!" I smiled, until I realized that I used the chan honorific… I remembered what it meant! I started to freak out! "Cr-crap! I'm so sorry, I didn't… gah!"

Chie was blushing but she laughed! That stopped my freak out… why was she not killing me!? "It's fine, we have been around Teddie for about an hour…"

That was the moment we came to split in the road that we would have to part ways. "H-hey, Chie…?"

"Yeah?" Chie turned to me, I was rubbing the back of my neck and looking to the ground. "What's up?"

"W-wi-will… um," I wanted to ask her, I really didn't care at that moment! Yet, I couldn't find the words for it. Chie's cheeks grew so pink as I stumbled over my words…

"Y-yes…?" I didn't know it at the time, but we were both so nervous about what I was about to say… It was kinda funny how it worked, huh?

"W-will you…" I broke, I couldn't ask her yet… it didn't feel right, so I gave up… God, what a coward right? "Train with me tomorrow, I know it's a Sunday, and we don't have school… Soooo."

Chie actually looked disappointed for a moment. I felt so scared for that time, I almost stopped breathing! "S-sure… See you tomorrow!" The words that left Chie's mouth sounded so sad, I felt like a dick… I could face down a shadow with nothing more but a baseball bat, but I had problems with this!? Chie waved as she ran down the road to her house. I quickly got home and said night to Will as I planted my face into my pillow and lied awake for hours until sleep finally pulled me away from reality…

* * *

_**I'm done with this CHAPTER, YES, took me two days! Well, sorry for the wait! I hope you enjoy**_

_**Please send in your feedback… I want it, well hopefully I can update tomorrow… Later!**_


	18. Chapter 18: Chariot's Strength

May 1, 2011

Forecast…. Cloudy

I landed flat on my ass as Chie kicked me in the chest, when I hit the ground, all the air escaped from my lungs. "_Son of a-!"_

"You okay?" Chie walked over as she put her hands on her hips. She had a look of concern in her eyes. "You seem out of it today…"

"Just a little tired…" I rubbed my forearm against my chest in pain; yeah Chie had one hell of a kick to her… Though to be honest, she was right, I was so out of it today… not because I was tired mind you, I got ten hours of sleep… "I didn't get to sleep until after midnight… It's turning into a habit."

"Oh," Chie held out her hand and helped me to my feet… I sighed as stood there, I was having difficulty paying attention today, to be honest… I had no idea why, so I couldn't ask her a simple little question about her blushing… I thought through every last possible meaning and outcome, yet not one of them made any sense to me. What, you guys thought I was gonna ask her out… I was just scared she'd never talk to me again if I asked her why she was blushing… Besides there was no way in hell would she ever go for a guy like me, right? "Hey, let's go grab a bite; I think you could use a break…"

"You can say that again…" I smiled as rubbed the back of my neck now in embarrassment. "So, you go to Aiya's?"

Chie's face lit up like a Christmas tree the moment the words left me my mouth. "Now you're talking!"

"Then," I took a couple of steps down the road. "How 'bout we do one last thing for training…"

"What's that?" Chie tilted her head at me as I kept backing away from her.

"Last one there has to pay to bill!" With that I turned and ran, leaving a shocked Chie in my wake. After a moment she realized what was happening and began to chase me down!

* * *

Outside of Aiya's Dinner

"M-man!" I had my hands on my knees as I finally made to Aiya's… two minutes after Chie did, yeah, I'm out of shape… SO WHAT!? "Did not realize… it… was… so… far!"

Chie was smiling like a mad man when I finally stopped in front of the dinner. "Yes! Now you have to pay!" She quickly turned to face the dinner looking at the menu that they posted on the front of the dinner. "Today is steak bowl day! Just you wait!"

"They have… a steak bowl?" I finally was able to regain my composer. "How come I have NEVER heard of this!?"

Chie smiled and tried not to laugh at the joke. That's when I noticed a voice of someone who was at least, maybe ten years old… "I-I don't have any more…" Me and Chie both got pissed off ever so slightly… ever so slightly being pissed enough to rip off every single one of their heads!

"Don't tell me they're at it again!?" Chie was a little more pissed than I was, mainly because I was distracted for a moment… yet the moment she said something, I shook my head to bring me back to reality. "Let's go, Kreed-kun!"

"Got it!" We both charged into the alleyway to see the punks surrounding a little kid. God, they knew how to piss me off! Attacking a teenager was bad, but this was downright disgraceful! "Oh, you have got to be kidding me! The same assholes too!"

"What are you up too!?" Chie was very clearly pissed at the morons, they had crossed a line last time, this time though, attacking a kid! They were crossing every line that ever existed… which pissed off the last person you ever wanted to make angry… besides the Hulk!

When the punks finally noticed us, the tallest one seemed upset that we were once again stopping them. "Huh? Aw, not her again."

"Heheh, I know how to handle this bitch." You should have seen my face when those words left his mouth. Yeah, I was pissed before… only now, I was gonna destroy this motherfucker! These guys where low… I couldn't wait to beat the ever-loving shit out of them.

"Huhuhuh!" The tall guy seemed HAPPY about his friend pissing off the wrong people! He was gonna regret this… "You look like you got something planned!"

The kid started to cry a little bit, I felt bad for the little guy… he didn't deserve this, no one did. "H-help…"

"Hear that, 'Chie-chan?'" I almost did a double take when the words left his mouth. "He wants help."

"How do you know my name…?" I was so shocked that I forgot how to talk for a while, but I had a few ideas how they got that information…

"We ran into the guy you saved last time…" I knew it! He was going to die a slow and painful death! "Had a friendly conversation. He told us kinds of stuff. Like where you live, and about that precious 'Yukiko-chan' of yours."

Chie looked like she had just been punched in the gut… I knew how she felt, she had been betrayed by someone that she thought was a friend, yet not only that… the one part of this that I couldn't understand was that she felt like she was betrayed by someone that she fell in love with once… "What are you trying to pull!?"

"Oh, I'm just gonna have a little chat with this kid. Stay put, okay?" I could see the anger rise from her shock; she would not let these punks push her around… This shot my level of calmness through the roof; I actually took a step back. "'Cause who knows what'll happen to 'Yukiko-san' if you get in our way…?"

"Hehuhuh!" His "friends" were cheering him on, like complete morons. "Man, that's nasty!"

"Why, you…!" Chie clenched her fist as the kid began to sniffle. I could tell things were not looking good. I was not going to abandon my friend! I was going to stay her, even if it meant I get the ever-loving shit beaten out of me. Chie looked to me for a moment; I smiled evilly at her and took another step back.

"Even your friend agrees with us!" The punks were really gonna use me as an excuse here!? "So just sit there and let us ta-"

"Shut up!" I nodded at Chie. "I stepping back so I don't get in her way you fucking idiots!"

"Alright, so it's okay to rip these punks a new one!?" Chie turned back to the punks, she had had it with these assholes, and I knew it.

"Just remember to call 911," I thought about it for a moment. "Wait, what is it here…?"

"You sure about that?" The leader punk had such a cocky grin on his face. "So you don't care what happens to you loved ones?"

"Rrrgh…" Chie was about to explode, I leaned against the wall, waiting to jump in if things got ugly. "Fine, then hit me!" I went into a coughing fit as the words left her mouth. The punks looked surprised as well. "You're pissed at me, right!? Then why don't you just take a swing at me?"

"Chie!" Chie just stepped right up to the leader punk; she just looked back at me for a moment. Basically telling me to stay back. "What are you doing!?"

"I got this!" Chie looked back at the punks, I was worried that she was actually in trouble, I was about to get in between her and the punks. "I won't fight back. Be my guest! The face, the gut, Just pick a target! As hard as you want! C'mon!"

The leader of the punks turned his head away from Chie; I was surprised when he didn't take a swing at her. "Freak."

His friends started to run back away from Chie, they were terrified of her! "What's with this bitch… She for real? Whatever, man… Let's go…"

As they tried to get around us, I grabbed the leader by his color, even with the kid watching. I slammed him against the wall… "If you ever threaten Chie or anyone she cares about, and I will personally hunt you down!"

A little out of character for me, yes… Was I serious? Yes, I would not let them hurt my friends. I wouldn't kill them, just let them taste the wrong end of my baseball bat again… "I-I won't! G-get off of me!"

I smiled evilly as I let the guy go, to which he replied by running away as fast as possible. I let out a long breath and leaned against the wall for support… I was breathing heavy, I was so nervous at that moment; I looked up at Chie who looked like she was in the same condition that I was in. "M-miss… Thank you…" We both looked at the little child, he looked scared still, but he seemed like he was in better condition than when we first found him.

"Huh?" I honestly think Chie forgot about him. "Oh, no, don't worry about!" With that the kid ran off as fast as he could… to be honest, I wouldn't have been surprised if in the next few days I heard rumors about the hero girl… The thought made me smile a bit.

"That was fun…" I looked over at Chie as I forced myself off of the wall. Chie sighed and looked back up at me.

"My heart's still pounding…" Chie just stood there with her hands on her hips, but she was freaking out the whole time… it was actually a comforting thought. I don't why, it just was. "Was that stupid of me?"

"You bet," I smiled as I walked up to her, she was about to say something, but I held up my hand to stop her. "But you protected the kid; you did an amazing job…"

"Thanks." Chie's face turned a little red, but it vanished quickly as she took in a deep breath. "It might've been stupid, but I wanted to save them… That kid, Yukiko… How I feel about this isn't fake. I really want to protect them…"

"If anyone can do it…" I placed a hand on her shoulder. "It's you Chie."

Chie's face turned the light pink color she looked to the ground as she breathed in deeply, she looked even more nervous than when she was staring down a thug… I pit started to form in my stomach, I had no idea why, I was starting to slowly realize how wrong I was… I made the full realization as the words that came out of her mouth next hit my ears… "Um, well… I also want to protect you… I might be a little flaky… And maybe you don't even need protecting… But… I… I want to protect you…"

I finally realized why she was blushing, I was so wrong, I-I felt like an asshole for not realizing this sooner. I was taken over with so much emotion, I couldn't really control my next actions… It was actually embarrassing a bit, because I kinda just placed both of my hands on Chie's cheeks and brought her in for the most important kiss of my life… I wanted to do this, but it was also an involuntary action on my part, weird, huh? Chie, well her eyes widened in shock at first until she realized what was happening… at which she let her eyes close and she got lost in it just as much as I was. Finally, we broke apart to breath. "W-will you be my girlfriend?" A little late for asking about it, but I frankly did not give a rat's ass!

"Okay…" Chie's face became an even darker shade of the pink. "You sure? This is me we're talking about…"

"That's my line…" I smiled weakly as Chie became incredibly embarrassed about this. "S-sorry, you don't have if you don't want to… I mean, who would want to go out with me, right? After all that I've done…"

"I-I would…" Now my face was a dark red now. This was very much embarrassing to us. "Th-then… Awww, th-this is embarrassing!"

"Well," I was still smiling a little; I was also rubbing the back of my neck… We really had no idea what to do now. "Just remind me to get ten thousand yen for Yosuke…"

* * *

Time Change: Daytime to Afternoon

Me and Chie really had no plans for the rest of the day, so we just decide to grab a bite to eat and go to my house for the rest of the day. Shut up… not what you think, after all Yukiko was gonna be there helping Wi- that was the moment I remembered… I forgot to tell Will about Yukiko. We were running to my house now. "H-how could you forget about something like that!?"

"It just slipped mind!" I almost busted the door to my house down, only to have Yukiko open the door with a smile on her face.

"Oh!" I guess Yukiko didn't notice me, only because I was on the back side of the door, lying on the ground. "Chie! What are you doing here?"

"Um…" Chie looked around the door. "Kreed, are you okay?"

"Fine…" I crawled out from under the door. "That hurt way too much for a door… "

"Oh!" Yukiko quickly moved the door so I could stand up. "I'm sorry Kreed-kun!"

"It's all good Yukiko-san…" I stood up and looked into my house to see Will sitting down at the table looking out of the door. "_Hi Will…"_

Will nodded and looked to Yukiko. "_Um… _Thanks, Yukiko-san… _Crap, um… _for the lesson."

"You're welcome Will-san." Yukiko smiled and looked back to us. "He seemed to understand what was going on when I got here."

"Oh," I blinked a few times, I was amazed, he was a fast learner… "Well, um… thanks Yukiko, n-next time I'll make sure to warn you if I told him or not… uh, Chie, I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay," Chie sighed as she turned to Yukiko. "Come on Yukiko… I had a long day." Chie turned to me with a very gentle smile on her face. "Bye Kreed, I'll see you tomorrow."

I waved as I entered the house watching Yukiko and my girlfriend walk down the road… it was a good feeling to think and or say that for me… It made me feel like I was actually cared for, I was smiling pretty brightly as I turned around to Will. "_Why are you so happy Kris?_"

"Because you still have trouble with Japanese!" My smile turned a bit evil as I made fun of Will.

"_What, I only really understood half of it."_ Will raised an eyebrow at me. I knew he didn't know all that well.

"_Excatly!"_

"_Asshole…"_

* * *

_**Well, I was waiting for this chapter for soooo long! Well I hoped you enjoyed and I would really enjoy feedback on this chapter, laters!**_


	19. Chapter 19: Try Begining, Botherly Love

May 2, 2011

Forecast… Rainy

I was yawning as I sat down in my desk; Yosuke came smiling over to my desk. "So… how's your end of the bet coming?"

"I want out…" Yosuke's smile became evil, I wanted to punch him… though to be honest, I was still a little confused about yesterday. "Not because you won you prick… Because I don't want to feel like an asshole!"

"You can get out of it," I smiled until I noticed Yosuke still was smiling like an asshole. "When you win or lose!"

"I could tell Chie about it." It was my turn to be the asshole. "I think she'd kill us both, but I don't think you want that, right?"

"You really are as mad as a hatter!" Yosuke threw his hands up in the air, as if to say "I'm done!" "Fine! B-but only cause I don't want any casualties from this!"

Yosuke then sat down in his chair, the moment he hit the seat, my head hit my desk… I was awake for most of the night, my mind was going back a forth over if it was a good idea for us to be dating or not… I mean, I hadn't even known her for a month! I didn't think that anything could move that fast! Yet, I was happy that she said yes, happier than I've ever been which isn't that hard to beat mind you! Still, I was confused… I never really had a girlfriend before, yeah I tried but… well, you know the story. It always ended in my getting hurt, so I guess I was scared. It was way too much for me to think about!

My mind was still racing when I heard a familiar and exceptionally happy voice. "Are you okay Kreed?" I looked up and saw Chie was large smile on her face… to be honest; it didn't help with what I was thinking about right now. "You look tired…"

"I didn't get much sleep last night," I sighed, thankfully, one thing that wasn't on my mind was Will's Japanese lesson's, after all… Yukiko gave him a schedule of days that she would be able to come over, plus, if it was busy at the inn, she would give me a call. "H-hey, at lunch can I talk to you about something." I was having trouble making eye contact with her… I just realized yesterday, that even though they were brown, they were a lot easier for me to get lost in than any other color I had ever seen. Chie suddenly looked like she had been punched in the gut again… I felt so bad that I just let my head slam against my desk again.

* * *

Time Change: Early Morning to Lunch

I was on the roof of the school, sitting against the wall, letting the rain hit me felt good. It wasn't coming down too hard, which was a good thing, knowing King Moron… he'd kill me if I came into class soaking wet. My eyes were closed; I was letting the rain wash over me. Suddenly the rain stopped, yet I could still hear it; I could still hear it, though I finally opened my eyes when I felt someone against my side. When I opened my eyes, Chie was sitting next to me. Her face was the light pink color; she must have been embarrassed about to public display, even though there was no one nearby. Yet, she also looked scared… "You could have told me that you'd be on the roof…"

"Sorry," I sighed, I finally looked at her eyes. I sighed; I didn't really think that anyone really knew that we were dating yet. "I just wanted to be in the rain… I used to like the rain; the cold water dripping on my face always relaxed me. It was raining the day I decided to come to Inaba, traffic was busy with in a foot from me. If it wasn't raining that day… well I don't think you'd like it if your brand new boyfriend came to Inaba in a coffin…" I smiled, it was morbid, but… after you try to commit suicide, not many jokes can faze you.

Chie just looked away from me still; I had no idea why she was upset. Which surprised me when I saw a tear roll down her cheek, she started to sob. "You don't want to see me, don't you…?"

"What!?" I jumped to my feet, knocking Chie's umbrella out of her hand. She looked at me with fear in her eyes, she wasn't scared that I was going to hit her… "Why would you even THINK that!? God Chie! You have got to be kidding me!"

"Th-then…" Chie started to rub her eyes, she was having trouble talking through a few sobs… the rain was doing one hell of a job hiding her tears, if she had any. "W-why are you… we h-here…"

I looked at her with sadness in my eyes now, I gently grabbed her wrist. "Come one… I'll help you up."

Chie got to her feet still sobbing a bit; I brought her into a hug and held her tightly. I had no intention of letting go at that moment. "Chie Sotanaka… I have never met anyone as good as you! You faced down a whole gang of thugs for god's sake! To be damn near honest… I was worried that we were trying this too early…"

Chie wrapped her arms around me; we stood there in the rain for the moment until I pushed Chie away ever so slightly just so that I could see her face. She smiled up at me, well that made me smile as well. "If you ask me, it's just right!" Then the bell rang… oops, we didn't even get to eat! "C'mon Kreed, we should get back before King Moron gives us detention."

"Before that!" I quickly kissed Chie on her check and I smiled at her as we ran back to class, I realized at that moment that I just didn't give a damn if we moved a little fast, for once in my life I was happy!

* * *

Time Change: Lunchtime to Afternoon

It was everyone's least favorite time of day… King Moron's class! And now he was bitching about the next few days that we had off, some holiday called Golden Week, I'd have to ask what it was later… Still, he was in charge of the class, and he was bitching… like always. "I'm hearing a lot of chatter about Golden Week, but don't forget that first and foremost, you're students!" To be honest, I was surprised that he hadn't made a big deal out of me and Chie being a little wet when we came back into the class… though we did get some weird looks from Yu and Yosuke, Yukiko seemed to not even notice that we were wet, or smelled of rain… how does water have a scent at all… FUCK THE WORLD, that's how! Anyway! I turned to Chie and whispered in her ear.

"And just waiting to get his buck teeth out of our sight!" Chie tried not to laugh at my joke; Yosuke actually heard me and almost got all three of us in trouble when he actually laughed slightly. Yet King Moron was already ranting about the same subject still.

"Your duty is to study! You don't have time to fool around, alright!?" I was trying so hard not to crack up at that moment… yes King Moron, every single one of us only have sex on our minds! Dumbass! "Do not misunderstand what freedom means! It does not mean that you can live without taking responsibility! Even Pythagoras said, 'As soon as laws are necessary for men, they are no longer fit for freedom!'"

"Kinda like his teeth," I whispered to Chie again.

"What? Why?"

"Because," I smiled evilly. "They don't fit in his mouth, there for… King Moron is not fit for teeth!"

That's when both me and Chie both heard the dread eight letter word that would ruin the day for everyone! "Next order of business! Midterms are coming up next week! The results will be posted to humiliate low-scoring losers! If you don't want to be shamed, study hard! It's that simple! If you do well, who knows!? You may become a more popular cretin! And you know, popularity leads to intimacy!"

I lost interest the moment those words left his mouth, I wish I had a voice recorder for that exact moment in my life! That shit would be so popular on youtube! And who knows!? King Moron may have become more popular! And you know, popularity leads to… Nevermind, that shit is creepy to think about… MOVING ON!

* * *

Time Change: Afternoon to After School

Home

"Hey Yukiko!" I walked into the living room where Yukiko was teaching Will some more Japanese; Chie had come over to study for a bit. Yukiko looked up at me as I entered the kitchen and opened the fridge. "You want a soda…?"

"No thank you Kreed-san…" Yukiko turned back to Will; he was looking at me and smiled.

"I understood all of that!" I stopped, Will just spoke Japanese almost perfectly! "Wait… Holy shit! I can do it! Yukiko, you are an amazing teacher!"

"_That and the Rosetta Stone you got a few days ago…_" I smiled as I tossed Will a soda and sat back down next to Chie who had her books out, she looked like she was gonna pull her hair out. "Anyway! So, do you understand it yet…"

"No…" Chie almost slammed her head into the book. I put my hand under her head and pushed against it. "Who did you and Will-san learn this language when you were little!?"

"When you learn English," I pulled the book so that it was in between us, Chie unintentionally moved closer to me. I smiled and wrote down a few things. "All other languages are almost impossible to learn!"

Chie looked over the stuff that I wrote down and her jaw dropped! The sentence that she had spent the last half hour on finally made sense to her. Her shock turned to joy as she turned to me and almost threw her arms around me. I noticed that she did stop herself; I guess that she was still nervous about people knowing that we were going out. I was fine with that, after all… so was I! "Oh my god Kreed, thank you!"

"That's what I'm here for!" I saluted her and placed my left hand on my leg as I took a swing of my soda, I did feel a hand on top of mine, and Chie was still smiling at me. I guess just holding hands under a table for a mouth would work for me… After all, we did dive into this without thinking about it, still… I couldn't help but notice Will staring at Yukiko; this gave me an evil idea. "Speaking of which… Hey Will, you and Yukiko should hang out over Golden Week, after all… it'll get her out of the inn and you out of the house!"

Everyone in the house gave me a weird look; I was smiling like a mad man at that moment. Will and Yukiko looked at each other. "Hell, maybe the four of us can hang out someone!"

"Oh!" Chie kinda understood what I was doing, kinda… but still, not a bad thing. "We could go to Okina City!"

I didn't really notice what everyone else was saying when I heard a knock on the door. I was confused at first, yet Will walked up to the door with me. "_Dude, what are you trying to do!?"_

"_Nothing,"_ I smiled at Will, to be honest, I never meant for it to go as far as it did… still. Yukiko and Chie were talking about where they should go to shop in Okina city, I heard something about a movie that just came out on DVD. I opened the door still looking at Will. "Hel-"

I was cut off by a smaller form knocking my to the ground, I was so confused as was everyone else in the house. I realized that I didn't really get tackled as much as it was that the person just fell on me… I looked at the form on top of me, the person had on a red hoodie with a skull design on the back… they also had on lightly colored blue jeans. I finally noticed who it was when I noticed the turquoise streek, in the brown head of shoulder length hair. "WHAT THE FUCK!? WHY ARE YOU HERE!? AND DON'T GIVE ME THE YOU CAN'T SPEAK JAPANESE BULLSHIT! I FOR A FACT THAT YOU KNOWAT LEAST FOUR LANGUAGES!"

The girl finally rolled off of me. "Nice to see you too, brother."

* * *

_**Oh come on, like none of you saw this one coming! Though I am sorry if this was a little awkward for some... still! I hope you enjoyed and I would like some for feed back, so with that in mind thank you to everyone who has sent in feedback especially SaudraeOfSunday, 13TheAce, and vincent the vizard! You guys have been a major reason that I am continuing this story!**_


	20. Chapter 20: Siblings

May 2, 2011

Forecast… Rainy

"WHAT THE FUCK!? WHY ARE YOU HERE!? AND DON'T GIVE ME THE YOU CAN'T SPEAK JAPANESE BULLSHIT! I FOR A FACT THAT YOU KNOWAT LEAST FOUR LANGUAGES!" I yelled at the younger girl.

The girl finally rolled off of me. "Nice to see you too, brother." Everyone in the house just stared at me and my sister. When she finally noticed them… she seemed shocked, I knew what was coming up.

"Kreed-kun…?" Yukiko looked from me to my sister. "Has a sister?"

Chie and Will were the only two in the room who knew that, Will had actually met her once too. "Hey Em…"

"William," My sister nodded at Will as she stood to her feet. She dusted off her knees and looked to me, I was sitting cross legged in front of the chair Chie was using. "I had no idea… that my brother had become equated with people here…"

"That's because, Emily…" I looked her right in the eye. "You never called or asked about my day through text!" I had gotten so used to Japanese that even when I didn't want to I started to speak it! Dear god, no I would probably have to start over in English again. "So, again… Why. Are. You. HERE!? Mom said that you guys wouldn't be here until after my first test… which I didn't realize would be so soon!"

"Well," Emily placed her hands into the pockets of her red hoodie. It was a habit that let me knew that she was nervous. "The school wouldn't let me register any later, plus… mother was worried that your mental state might have deteriorated since last we saw of you in April. Yet, it seems like you have been prosperous in your endeavors to generate social obligations to at least four people here…"

"Stop," I held out my hand to her… I knew why she was talking like this, it was not something that I wanted to talk about to anyone in that room yet, not even Chie! "Just stop, you staying with me yet?"

I swore that Will's head almost exploded when he heard me say those few words. I forgot to mention to him that after the first exams… Emily would be staying with me until Mom found a job. So, um… ooops. Emily looked to the ground. "No, I will come to stay at your current home after the first set of exams are through and your results come in. Until then, mother and I will being staying at a local family run establishment… I believe it was called the Amagi inn."

Yukiko's face darkened a bit to hear the name of her family's business at that moment. I sighed, everyone was confused by my sister at that moment, she sounded so sophisticated, yet was dressed like a punk rocker. "Em," Stood up and put a hand on her shoulder and pushed her further into the house to meet Yukiko and Chie. "Before you go on anymore speals about my life… these two are Chie Sotanaka," Chie waved awkwardly, I could tell she was confused, in the picture… Em seemed so happy and care free, not like this. "And Yukiko Amagi… her family runs the inn you and mom are staying at."

Em bowed at the two and turned to Chie. "What about her? Why is she her?"

That was the moment I knew what was going on… she was basically going into mamma bear mode… I guess it was my fault for that though… after all, I really couldn't protect her when we were younger, so she tried her best to protect me. "S-she's… um," I didn't really wanna tell anyone that we were dating yet, I think that she felt the same. "She's here to study for the exams."

"And Miss Amagi?" My sister was really going to interrogate everyone… oh dear god save me now… "Why, is she not helping at her family's establishment, it would only make sense for her to be there and not spending time here."

"Wh-what…?" Chie was so confused on what my sister was doing. I was quickly reaching my wits end with Em. "Why do you wanna know about all of us…?"

"Do you not know about my brother's mental state?" Emily glared at Chie, before anyone could say anything Will spoke up.

"Your… mental state…?" Will looked at me with concern, he had no idea that I had tried to kill myself more than once. "What happened…?"

"I hope you know…" I stood up and stepped right in front of my sister. "That everyone but Will KNEW ABOUT THAT!"

She shook her head, she didn't realize what was going on. She had one mind set when it came to me and other people. She wouldn't believe that I actually opened up to people and that they actually cared about me. She didn't keep that mind setting long after she me-, I really need to stop getting ahead of myself. What, it's not like I've said the ending of this story now is it!? Anyway, Em looked over the room one last time and bowed to Yukiko only. "Your family's establishment has excellent service… I must be off now."

With that, Em stormed out of the house. It took a moment before anyone broke the silence; I was still kinda pissed at her. Yukiko sighed and stood up… "Will-san, you have gotten a lot better at Japanese, though, to be sure… maybe we could have another lesson somewhere in town?"

"U-um…" Will rubbed the back of his neck as the question assaulted his ears. "S-sure."

"I'm going to go home now…" Yukiko stood up and headed for the door. "Bye Kreed-kun, Will-san."

"Hey Yukiko!" Chie spun out of her chair and grabbed her stuff. "Wait for me!" She stopped just before she passed me, she turned with a smile on her face… even pissed off it still made me smile! "Bye Kreed!"

If we were alone, I was almost certain that she would have kissed me… but even I would have been embarrassed about that. Will turned to me with a mock smile on his face. "That was… uh, fun…"

"I'm going to my room," I walked out of the room, I was starting to calm down, just a little bit. "See ya tomorrow." Will just sighed and sat on the couch. Just before I fell asleep, my phone went off. I looked down at the device to see that Chie had texted me… _Hey, just checking on you… we are going to Junes tomorrow for Golden Week if you wanna come._ I just dropped my phone next to me and rolled over to fall asleep. I rubbed the back of my head as a slight pain overcame me.

* * *

Date Change: May 2, 2011 to May 3, 2011

Forecast: Sunny

"Morning." I walked down into the living room to see Will dressed, like he was going into town. I was still in a little bit of pain. "How ya feeling?"

"Better than yesterday…" I yawned, I was already dressed and ready to hang out with my girlfriend and friends for the day. I also wanted to see my sister, so I could apologize for how coldly I treated her yesterday… even if did… MOVING ON! "Hey… you wanna go somewhere today…?"

"Huh?" Will spun around in his seat in front of the TV so that he could see me. "Wait… What!?"

Before I could say anything… I heard someone knock at the front door. I quickly ran and slip to the door, only to have Will say… "Showoff!"

"You just jealous of ma skills!" I swung the door open to be greeted by a worried looking Chie, my smile widened when I saw her face. "CHIE!" Chie looked incredibly surprised to see me smiling like an idiot. Yet to surprise her even more, I hugged her. Now I know what you're thinking… "but you just said that it was embarrassing!" Well, shut up and listen. I hug all my friends when I'm happy to see them, so… Will thought nothing of it! It took a moment for Chie to hug me back, I patted her on the back twice and let my grip go, and she was smiling now. "Private Richards reporting for duty!"

Chie actually played along. "At ease… So, you ready?"

"Yep!" I turned back to Will. "Last chance ya hermit!"

"I'm not a hermit!" Will got up and walked to the door. "Ya Bean head!"

"Bean head?" I laughed as Chie didn't get what the joke meant… I thought it was funny and adorable!

"'Cause of my beanie, Chie." Her cheeks quickly turned a dark red. I still laughed, and still got kicked in the shin!

* * *

Dojima Residence

"You forgot to text Yu?" I raised my eyebrows at Chie as all three of us walked up to Yu's front door.

"Sh-shut up," Chie blushed as she knocked on the door. "I was more worried about inviting you!"

Now it was my turn to blush… I think Will didn't notice but Narukami sure as hell did when he opened the door. He froze for a moment, but quickly regained his composer. Chie smiled up at Yu. "Oh, cool, you're home."

"You didn't even check to make sure that he was home?" I smiled evilly at Chie, she knew I was joking but she still blushed. "Well, at least he was here, or this would have been awkward… oops, to late."

Chie gently smacked me on the back of my head. "Will you knock it off!?"

"Maybe…" I was having fun again, so no one questioned what I was doing. Will just laughed at me, Yu laughed like once. Yet, that was also when I noticed the little girl standing next to Yu; it was the girl that was with his uncle, so I assumed that it was his cousin or something like that. "Oh, hi…"

"H-hi." She kinda hid behind Yu's leg, Chie was still smiling at Yu.

"Hey, if you're free today, wanna go somewhere?" I noticed that the girl peeked around to see Chie. "Yukiko, Kreed, and his friend are coming too."

"Yep," I jumped away from Chie and spun on one foot. "Out into the great unknown!" I kinda saw the girl step out from behind Yu. "Everyone is welcome to join us in this great journey!"

"Dude…" Will shook his head at me. "What are you doing…?"

I heard the little girl giggle a little bit… score one for me! "Being mad as a hatter! Anyone care to join!?"

"No…" Will looked away from me.

"Well," Chie smiled as she looked to the little girl. "How 'bout you, Nanako-chan? Wanna come?"

The girl seemed surprised by the offer, yet not in a bad way, she looked up to Yu. He was smiling gently down at her. "U-um…"

"Yeah," Yu's smile got wider as he extended the invitation to Nanako. "Come with us."

"Huh?" Nanako's immediate response was one of surprise. "I-I can come?"

"Of course!" I ran up and stopped abruptly slightly behind Chie with a grand old smile on my face. "It wouldn't be fair to leave anyone out… unless, you know… they just don't want to come, but HEY, you wanna come with us… so… I going to stop talking now…"

"Please do…" Will sighed as he stepped next to me, he was smiling as well, so I could tell that he was also having a lot of fun already. "But, yeah… why don't you just come with us?"

Chie smiled at me and Will, everyone wanted Nanako to go with us. It was a good feeling for me. After all, I was left out of a lot of things… Besides, everybody who met her just could not hate Nanako, it was impossible!

* * *

Junes Food Court

"Why'd you bring poor Nanako-chan to a place like this on Golden Week?" Yosuke turned to Chie with a disappointed look on his face. Chie gave Yosuke a look that was for once… not threating.

"Where else is there to go?" Chie stated as a matter of fact, I smiled at them.

"Not like I'd want to anywhere else!" I pointed into the sky, god the looks that I got after doing that made me laugh, but what was even better than that was what Nanako said next, not what she said, the fact that the little girl did the same exact thing that I did.

"I love Junes!" The way that she expressed it made me laugh, Will smacked on the back of my head.

"What did I do!?" I returned the favor by smacking him on the back of his head.

"You're being a bad influence!"

"It's not like I cursing up storm," I looked away from Will and over the railing… I noticed a hill way off in the distance; it was really easy to miss with how far it was. "Or talking to my friends when I'm still working…"

For that, everyone turned to Yosuke, he almost immediately threw his hands up in defense. "I-I on brake!"

Nanako broke my train of thought at that moment. "But we were supposed to go on a real trip somewhere." It almost broke my heart to see her face, she looked so sad… I mean, her dad is a cop, he must not have gotten much time off. "We were going to make boxed lunches…"

"Wow!" Yukiko looked at the girl with admiration almost. "You can make boxed lunches, Nanako-chan?"

The girl shook her head and looked up to Yu sitting next to her. Go figure he could cook… Chie smiled at Yu with an evil little grin. "Oh, so you're the family cook? Pretty impressive, 'big bro!'"

"Chie," I put a hand on her shoulder. "It's not wise to start things de- I-I mean, crap…"

I looked up at Yosuke, he noticed what I had said and his mouth just dropped open. "Um… Hi, yeah, um… So you can cook Narukami!? S-so can I…"

"You owe me ten thousand yen now…" Yosuke turned to Yu. "Well, he does seem to be great with his hands- Um, never mind."

"Great," I threw my hands up, saying "I'm done!" "Now, Ima be broke and Yosuke looks like a perv… U-um, don't use that p word around your dad Nanako…"

Chie started to look at the ground. "I-I'm a pretty good cook too, you know… Probably."

"Probably?" I raised my eyebrow… not only had I just dropped the ball about mine a Chie's relationship… but now I owed Yosuke ten thousand yen and Chie didn't really care, well at least I wasn't going to lose my manhood… yet. "Not what you wanna say in a moment like this."

"W-well," Chie looked at Yu. "If you'd asked, I would've whipped up some boxed lunches. Easy as pie! Yeah…"

"Uhh," Yosuke put on a mock thinking face. "Lemme think about- No."

Now Chie looked like she was going to kill Yosuke… god it had been too long since that happened. "What makes you think I can't cook!? Let's have a cook-off and see for ourselves!"

"My, my, doth the lady protest too much?" Yosuke really just quoted Shakespeare didn't he…

"To be or not be killed by Chie!?" I raised my hand like I had a skull in it. "That is Yosuke's question!"

"Hey!" Yosuke glared at me, I just smiled back at him. Hey didn't say anything before turning back to Chie. "And hey, I never said I cooked. But I have this weird feeling… Like I'd win anyway…"

"Ahaha," Yukiko started to giggle, thank god it was not one of her laughing fits, or me and her would have hit the floor. I can understand that."

"That bad, huh?" Will scared the ever loving shit out of me! I almost forgot that he was even here! "Yikes… even I can cook, kinda…"

"Why doth thee attack the poor lady!?" I but on a fake British accent and smiled at Will. "Why, thou haven't the heart to let the lady speak!"

Everybody rolled their eyes at me, I was going to try and act like this more often… it was fun! Yosuke broke the momentary silence after turning to Nanako. "Here, Nanako-chan can be our judge. I bet we'll make something that ranks up there with you mom's cooking, Nanako-chan!"

"Yosuke!" Yu almost yelled at the poor guy, I looked over at him and then to Nanako… when I saw her face I knew what was going on.

"Wh-what!?"

"I don't have a mom." Nanako looked like she might have started to cry. "She died in an accident."

"I know how that feels…" Chie looked at me with concern, I leaned my chair back a bit. "I don't have a dad… but he just left." Chie turned back to Yosuke.

"Hey, Yosuke…"

"I-I see… Um…" Yosuke looked depressed now. "Sorry, I didn't know…"

"It's okay." The moment that those words left Nanako's mouth, I almost jumped, which didn't quite work in a chair that was leaning back, so instead. I had to grab the table to keep me from falling. "Even if I don't have a mom, I have Dad with me... And now I have a brother, too. And I'm having a lot of fun today! I love Junes!"

"Y-yeah?" Yosuke still seemed like he regretted bringing up the topic, hell, I think we all did… "That's good."

Chie smiled brightly at the young girl. "We'll play with you anytime you want, Nanako-chan!"

"Anytime might be pushing it…" I smiled as Chie smacked me on the back of my head. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding! I'd be happy to play with you Nanako-chan!"

"Yeah," Yukiko was still in high spirits despite what was said at the table. "We should hang out more often."

"I'm game for that." Will smiled as well; I think we had a mascot to think of when we were kicking the ever-loving shit out of culprit when we finally tracked that asshole down! "Especially since I don't have school anymore."

"What!?" Yosuke almost fell over in his chair. It was funny as hell.

"Yeah…" I rubbed the back of my neck. "I forgot to mention that we were in the same grade, but he graduated early in the states…"

"Lucky," Chie sighed as she remembered about our exams. "You don't have to worry about exams…"

"I know," Will leaned back in his chair. "It's awesome!"

Yosuke sighed as he looked back to a very confused Nanako. "C'mon, Nanako-chan. Let's go get a soda!"

This quickly brought her out of her confused state and she looked back to Yosuke with a smile. "Okay!"

She got up and walked away with Yosuke… she was definitely a strong willed girl. Yukiko also noticed it. "She's a strong girl…"

"Yeah." Chie smiled softly as she looked at the little girl. "She makes me feel like I'm the little kid here. That's it, I'm gonna go get something for Nanako-chan too!"

Chie and Yukiko both left, the moment that they were gone a grabbed the back of Will's chair and pulled it towards the ground, gravity did the dirty work. "Ow! What the hell was that for!?"

"For being a smartass!" I just sunk lower in my chair. I was kinda saddened by what happened that day, even though I had fun… Yu laughed for a moment.

"I'm guessing he hasn't changed much?" Yu directed the question to Will.

"No," Will stood up and put a hand on my shoulder. "He has, he's a hell of a lot happier now… especially around that Chie girl…"

"I can get her to kick you in your crouch, ya know!" I looked at Will with a serous face, he would learn soon not to fuck with Chie. Yu smiled at me from his seat. "Don't you start Narukami!"

"I happy for you," My expression became so surprised that even Yu laughed for more than a second or two. "You might be what each other needs… after all, you do seem happier around her. She seems to trust you a lot as well."

I smiled now… I was happy to have you as a friend, he was a good person. "Thanks Yu-sama."

"What's with the sama?" Yu looked surprised at me now. "I'm in the same grade as you."

"Exactly…" I stood up now with a huge smile on my face. "I still respect you as such though."

With that Nanako came running back to the table smiling; you could tell that she was happy just to be with her "big bro." "Do you want something too?"

Yu stood up and walked over to Nanako. "I would love something."

"Wanna share some takoyaki?" They walked off. Will turned to me with a confused look on his face.

"What the fuck is takoyaki?"

"Beats me," I smiled as I started to walk towards the rest of my friends. "But, damn is it good!" It was honestly one of my favorite memories that I have ever had… I wish that I could go back there sometimes…

* * *

_**Okay, first… If I got the weather wrong… don't yell at me please! Another thing… Sorry for the wait on the update… School is a pain sometimes, though, there may not be an update until after this week end. Friday is my birthday, so I will be busy with that, plus school is still a pain!**_

_**Anyway! Enough of my bitching! I hope you enjoyed and feedback is so much appreciated at this point in time! Yet, even if you don't like the story… I've come this far… I'm gonna finish it for sure! **_


	21. Chapter 21: Strength meets Strength

May 4, 2011

Forecast… Sunny

"May I ask why you are calling so early in the morning, Yosuke?" I was tired but here was Yosuke calling me at SEVEN in the morning! He better have a good reason for this, or I was gonna kick the crap out of him!

"I wanted to see if you and Narukami wanted to do something today." Wasn't really a good reason, but it was an okay reason… Yosuke just barely saved himself with this, barely. "Nanako-chan is gonna be coming with Yu, and Kou and Daisuke from the soccer and basketball clubs are coming too."

"Meh," I shrugged as I hopped out of bed and grabbed the first few things I could see to wear. "Okay, I be there soon…"

Well, doing something was better than studying….

* * *

Time Change: Early Morning to Daytime

Junes Electronic Department

"Remind me why I'm here," I turned to Yu I had no freaking clue why we came right back to Junes of all places. Well, I wasn't really complaining about that, it was the fact that it was still only around ten in the MORNING! I was gonna kill someone if I didn't get much sleep tonight. "Not that I complaining, just why Junes?"

"Because Nanako loves Junes…" Yu shrugged, well Yosuke had the right idea to make Nanako happy… still a little weird though.

"Yeah," Yosuke smiled brightly at the little girl next to us. "The first thing out of her mouth when I asked where she wanted to go was 'Junes!'"

I looked at the other two who were with us, Daisuke, who was on the soccer team was wearing his school jersey… don't ask me why… but he also had light dirty blonde hear and a bandage across his nose. Kou, the member from the basketball team, had blue hair… I didn't even know that was possible, but I didn't question it. He also had on a dress shirt over a light blue button down and black slacks. They seemed like good people, so I was actually having a blast to tell the truth. Kou smiled at Nanako. "Who could blame her? This place has everything… It's like a storehouse of magic."

"Yeah," I smiled as I patted Yosuke on the back. "The magic of logistics and shipping!"

"Dude!" Yosuke pushed my shoulder.

"What!?" I laughed at my friend. "It's the truth!"

"Anyway." Kou laughed at us, he seemed like he was having a good time too. "I can see why she likes it. Anyways, isn't she cute? I have a younger sister too. I wish she was cite like Nanako-chan."

I was surprised when Nanako actually got mad at Kou. "I-I'm not cute…"

"Um…" I raised an eyebrow at Nanako, this was the weirdest thing that ever happen. "This is getting awkward…"

Nanako ran behind her "big bro," and Kou actually looked worried that he had hurt Nanako's feelings… NANAKO'S! "Oh, did I hurt your feelings?"

"I'm just gonna stop talking…" I rubbed the back of my neck, there was no way in hell that this was going to end well… I was right for the most part… Daisuke then opened his mouth and I lightly smacked my forehead…

"Don't worry, you're not cute." This shocked everyone and made Nanako a little mad…

"That's going kinda far…!"

"I'm with Kou on this one…" I moved my hand off my face. "That wasn't the brightest thing to say…"

"Are you stupid or something!?" Yosuke you very much pissed off by this… Yu just confirmed our thoughts.  
He also rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, that's the Daisuke I know."

I could not believe the words that came out of Yu's mouth, until Daisuke opened his. "Heheh, don't flatter me like that."

The rest of the time was… um, interesting with Nanako giving Daisuke the stink eye that is…

* * *

Time Change: Daytime to Evening

Yu had to take Nanako home before it got dark, so Daisuke and Kou left for Aiya's, well not before adding my number to their phones… Man, Inaba was giving my all kinds of friend, it was just me and Yosuke now, I held my hand out to him at that moment. "Huh? What's this…?"

"Ten thousand yen…" I sighed loudly; I knew he was going to take it without thinking about it. "May only just started and I lost the bet…"

Yosuke shook his head and laughed. "Dude, keep it…"

"Wait…" I titled my head at Yosuke… "WHAT!?"

"Yeah," Yosuke patted me on the shoulder. "It's not like I would have used it for anything important anyway."

"Tha-thanks man," I smiled at him, yet it quickly it faded when I saw that his smile was evil now… "Wait… you're going stilling to make me pay aren't you…"

"Oh hell yes!" Yosuke smiled at me. "You just won't see it coming!"

"Great… just great!"

* * *

_**Sorry that the chapter is so short... I mean after all... NOTHING REALLY HAPPENED IN GOLDEN WEEK, plus, because tomorrow is my birthday... I'm having a small case of writers block... T_T life sucks sometimes! Oh, well no more bitching from me! I promise! anyway hope you enjoyed and feedback please! I will try and update it Monday!**_


	22. Chapter 22: Studying, cuddling WHAT?

_**I'M BAAAAAAAAACK! Now, I know that my birthday was Friday, but I have a present for you guys… Chapter 22! Hope you enjoy!**_

* * *

May 6, 2011

"Morning Kreed-kun." I had literally just opened my door to see Yukiko and the ever lovely Chie standing on my, well I guess that it's not really a porch… I almost fell back into my house with surprise. "Are you ready for the school day?"

"Not when you guys scare the shit out of me!" I was breathing heavy at that moment. Chie laughed a bit. "Don't laugh! I thought you guys were gonna kill for a moment! Especially you Chie!"

"What?" Chie just titled her head at me… that's when a realization dawned upon her. "Oh, that…"

I spent all day sleeping yesterday, but not before sleep talking… Will heard everything about me and Chie, at which he texted Yukiko… I was going to have to kick his ass for that later! Yet, I got a call from Chie later that night; let's just say that she was not a happy camper… Lucky, she would have understood if I told will or Yukiko… though it was Yosuke that texted her about it, I was definitely going to kick his ass today! "A-anyway, let's go, we need to get to school!"

With that we set off of the day. We all talked about nothing important on the way, until I noticed someone walking to the school that I clearly recognized. The line of turquoise hair gave it away. Though, that's not what scared me about this girl… she was in a Yasogami High uniform! Yukiko also noticed this. "Isn't that Em-chan?"

"Oh god," I facepalmed, not today I did not want to deal with this today. Do not go all psycho… "I was hoping this would wait until after the exams!"

I yelled that a little louder than I wanted too, but Em didn't notice, in fact. She raised her arms as if she was holding something and stopped walking. That's when I saw the sliver, box like object in her hands. I also noticed the lens that prodded out the front of the box. It was a camera, she was taking pictures of the students walking to school and the actually scenery. This actually made me smile, for how much of a pain in the ass she can be. I knew she loved photography, it truly made her happy. I know I wanted to apologize to her, but I wanted to focus on exams. "Em, I didn't know that you started photography again!"

This made her jump, she spun on one foot, that's when I noticed that she had personalized her school uniform; it had a few pins with her favorite bands on them and I could see that she had a guitar pick as a necklace on. "Oh, brother! I didn't notice you until now." She noticed Chie and Yukiko and bowed. "Please forgive my behavior the other day… I did not mean to be in considerate to anyone, I was just worried about the wellbeing of my brother, I did not mean to cause any problems for anyone."

"It's fine Em-chan!" Chie smiled at my sister, and so did Yukiko. "So, are you a first year?"

That's when I turned red; I was actually embarrassed about the fact that my YOUNGER sister was so much smarter than I was. "Chie-san, was it? Actually, even though I am a year younger than my brother, I am a third year level."

Chie's and Yukiko's mouths both just about hit the floor. "Yeah, I saw that one coming after that…"

* * *

Time Change: Early Morning to After School

"Ugh…" For once, we were all standing around TWO desk instead of just mine! It was a miracle! "Why do the holidays have to end so fast…?"

"Because there is this stupid thing called mandatory school days…" I leaned back in my chair; I knew where this topic was going to get us fast. "Or some shit like that, I don't know…"

"At least they were peaceful." I glared at Yosuke and kicked him in the shin. "Ow, what the hell was that for!?"

"Yesterday asshole!" Growling at Yosuke I turned back to everyone else. "Though, I do understand what you're talking about with that, I didn't hear about anyone disappearing on TV or over the internet… not that it would show up there I guess."

"Yeah," We were all in thought about this, we just wanted to killer so stop... well, attempting to kill. Wow, that was the most redundant thing I have ever heard. "I listened in on the housewives gossiping at Junes, but it doesn't seem like anything happened. Y'think Yukiko could've been the last of the victims?"

"I doubt it…" I looked to the ground, there was no way in hell that Yukiko would be the last victim. I didn't want to be Mr. Doom-and-Gloom, but everyone knew I was right. "There's no way that someone like this would give up after one failed attempt and two successful."

"I agree," Yu knew that it needed to be said, that way the culprit wouldn't catch us off guard. "He wouldn't give up after Yukiko."

Chie looked even more worried than everyone else, being that she didn't say anything. Which was saying something about Chie; she always said something to cheer us up. I put a reassuring hand on her shoulder and smiled at her. "Me and Yu could be totally off base as well, I mean… the guy rang for bell, so he has to be worse than me. So don't worry so much!" I shook her shoulder slightly. She couldn't help but smile, which kinda made me almost laugh. I could make someone smile, with the same stuff that got me made fun of. Then Yukiko spoke up…

"I don't know." Yukiko was still worried, but she was calmer about this than the rest of us. "But we shouldn't relax as long as the culprit remains at large."

"I wonder…" Yosuke started to think out loud now, but I facepalmed as the words left his mouth. "Will someone show up on TV again if it rains?"

"Wasn't that the whole point of watching the Midnight Channel in the first place?" I sighed, I knew it was a little rude, but I knew where he was going with this too. "I get what you're saying though, if you knew just one thing about the killer, it would help us out greatly."

Now I was depressed about it, I kinda wished that we could go back to a normal life, but then again… without the Midnight Channel, I might not have made it to May. Then I heard Chie pep up again. "Eh, it's no good fretting over it now. If someone does show up on the Midnight Channel, then we'll deal with it. It's supposed to start raining soon, but I hope this weather holds through next week…" I smiled, there's good old Chie, god, even if she didn't really mean too then, and she still cheered me up. I was kinda looking forward to getting the test over with.

"Oh yeah," I smiled as I leaned back until the back of my chair hit the desk behind me. "Midterms are next week."

"Ugh," Yosuke seemed worse than when we were just talking about the case. I couldn't help but laugh. "You guys just had to go and bring that up… I don't wanna think about it."

"I wish I had Yukiko's gift for studying…" Chie sighed as she and Yosuke looked to the ground in defeat, so they could face shadows head on, but a simple test and suddenly it was the end of the world… "Hey Yosuke, why don't you have Yukiko go over some of the material with you?"

"Hm?" Yosuke quickly looked up quickly from the floor. "Oh, that's right. Yukiko's ranked at the top on every exam. Maybe I should ask her for some private lessons."

I didn't think anything of Yosuke comment until after what I saw next. "P-private lessons!?" Yukiko looked shocked, and not in a good way. Yosuke seemed confused by Yukiko's sudden outburst.

"Huh? What's wrong?" That's when Yukiko walked up to Yosuke and promptly smacked him in the face… HARD! It took a moment for what just happened to register in my mind, but when it did… I burst out laughing, I couldn't help it. "Ow…! What was that for? I'm just asking you to help me study…"

"Oh, I'm sorry…" Yukiko looked upset to begin with, now she looked guilt ridden. "You were talking about studying… I thought it might've been an off-color joke. Our inn has had some strange visitors lately… Oh, not that your family is weird Kreed-kun!"

"Yes, yes we are…" I glared at Yukiko. "I find it an insult that you would think anything less than that! Just kidding, though yeah, we are weird."

"So what!?" Now it was Yosuke's turn to be pissed at Yukiko. "If you thought it was a joke, then just shrug it off!"

This was the point that I continued to laugh to the point that me and the chair it the ground, I hit my head pretty hard too, so hard that I blacked out for a moment…

* * *

The sky was green; the moon was silver with red, the puddle of what was once rain now looked like blood. Everyone was scared, yet I wasn't, why was I so calm? I noticed people muttering a phrase that I couldn't hear; I couldn't clearly remember what was going on… I heard someone scream and I was blinded by light as I woke up.

* * *

"Is he okay!?" I heard Chie yell as I slowly stirred back to conciseness. My head was killing me, good that was such a weird dream that I thought that maybe I just fell asleep in class and that I was still dreaming.

I finally looked up to see that Yu and Yosuke had propped me against a wall to keep me from falling to the ground again. "I'd be better if my head didn't feel like a pin dropping from across the room would hurt to hear… The hell happened to me?"

"You fell out of your chair and slammed you head against the floor," Yu explained quietly and calmly… god, even that hurt a bit, there was no way in hell that it should hurt this much! Unless…

"The chair landed on my head somehow didn't it?" I rubbed the back of my head to find that the guys took off my beanie to make sure I wasn't bleeding. Great, they saw the scare… Yu just nodded when Yukiko reentered the room.

"Here's the aspirin you guys wanted me to get him." I held my head again… the doors in this school were so damn loud! I practically jumped for the damn medicine! Yukiko noticed I was awake and quickly took out two of the pills. "Oh, here you go Kreed-kun, um… do you need a glass of water with that?"

I shook my head and plopped one pill into my mouth. I swished it around in the saliva that I collected in my mouth only a moment again and swallowed the pill, and then I repeated the process. I smiled a bit as I rubbed the scar on the back of my head. "Where's my beanie at…?"

"Before that…?" Yosuke looked away from me, I could tell be the fact that his hands were behind his back that he had it. "Wh-what's with the scar on the back of your head, not that it really matters, just want to know."

I sighed… I had no reason to hide anything from them, but this was one thing that I wanted to stay hidden, or at least part of it… "I tried to jump off a roof once, the fall barely hurt, it was the hitting my head on a rock that did that. SO, can I have my beanie back now!?"

Yosuke sighed, they all did, and they really thought that it was new!? Have more faith in me than that guys! I mean come the fuck on, just because I tried before doesn't mean I'm gonna do it again. "That… had to hurt…"

"It did." I sighed as Yosuke threw my beanie back to me… "I'm going home now… later guys."

With that I walked out of the room with a massive head ache and one confusing question that came to my mind… "_Was that supposed to be the… N-no… it was just a nightmare nothing more… I hope."_

* * *

Time Change: After School to Evening

"What can I even do…?" I sighed, now before you go and complain that I'm all depressed and shit because I wasn't… I was bored out of my mind, I didn't think I needed to study for midterms, after all I was actually pretty smart, just didn't really show it a lot… WHAT!? I AM! JUST WAIT YOU'LL SEE! Sorry anyway… after I finished saying that one, there was a knock on my bedroom door. "Come on in…"

I was excepting to see Will, or a member of my family… but at my door was none other than Chie Sotanaka. "C-CHIE!? WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE!?"

Chie smiled at me and held up a few books. "I-I needed help studying for the exams…"

Not that I wanted to study, but hell, Chie was my girlfriend and I'd help her with this for sure. As well as many other things. "I don't know why you decided to come to my house to study this late."

"Well," Chie's face turned bright red as she stood in the door way of my room. "My parents aren't home and I tried to text you…"

"I never said I wouldn't help," I smiled as I patted the bed next to the office chair that I was currently spinning in. "Let's just make sure that you don't fall asleep again."

Her face suddenly turned that shade of pink that it gets, I was starting to notice just how cute it really was. "S-shut up…! Idiot!"

"Though," I listened carefully and I could hear Will's voice a long with someone else's voice too. "I'm guessing Yukiko came with you?"

"Yeah," Chie sat all of her stuff down. "So, ugh… math first."

"I like math."

"That makes one of us." Chie sighed as she opened the book. She was still just barely that pink color. We tried to study for a while with Chie on my bed and me in the chair until. "So you get 35 right?"

"No," I sighed and stood up from the chair. "Here, move over a bit, I think it'll be easier if I show you what to do."

The bed was very small, so Chie just stared up at me like I was insane. "Wh-wh-what!? There's not enough room for the both of us!"

That was when the pink in her cheeks came back, I smiled evilly, I was gonna torture her now. "Yes there is."

I got up near the pillows of my bed, but with how small it was, I practically had to wrap my legs around her. It was fun to see how much she reacted to this… yeah, I felt bad and like a total asshole! Yet she looked so cute that I couldn't help myself! "Come here and I'll show you how to do the problem."

Chie almost jumped back, or slapped me. She looked so shocked, now I know that I sounded like a total perv, but we both had to get over being embarrassed about this, not like the whole town wasn't going to know by the end of the week anyway. She very, very hesitantly climbed the bed so she was basically in my lap. We were both red now, she knew it too, but I guess she felt safe or something at that moment, I had no idea until later… I wrapped my arms around her sides so that I could write in the note book. "S-so, um… the equation is the inverse of sine of the square root of two over two times the cosine of one half. The equation is asking you what is forty-five times sixty!"

"Oh," Chie was still just as embarrassed as I was… but she made no move to escape my arms. "So it would be around two thousand and seven hundred, right?"

"Yes!" I dropped her pencil and fell backwards in my bed by accident, I grabbed the closest thing I could, which just so happened to be Chie's waste. I brought her with me on my way down… needless to say, we both screamed, Yukiko and Will ran up the stairs, we scrambled to get off of each other… which we did just in time and then me and Chie said some awkward goodbyes. Until they were heading out the door. "Hey, Chie…"

She looked back at me, her face that pinkish color again. "What?"

"You need to give yourself more credit…" I smiled at her and closed my eyes while doing so. "You really smarter than everyone thinks."

I didn't hear a response, but I knew that she was happy. I walked to my room and almost fell sleep standing before I was out cold. I just wanted to sleep that awkward moment off, but… I couldn't help but feel like me and Chie had just gotten a little closer. I had one of the best dreams ever that night…

* * *

_**Did you guys miss me!? I hope so, cause I missed my readers! Anyway I hope you enjoyed please give me your feedback! I love reading threw your reviews! Trust me!**_


	23. Chapter 23: Thunder and Rumors

May 7, 2011

Forecast… Thunderstorms

I rolled out of bed that morning… literally; I hit my head on the side table on the way down… God, I really did have a small bed. Still, today was Saturday and Midterms were coming up fast! There was no real way around this one… I sighed as I decided to do something different walking to school that morning. So, I closed the umbrella and pulled out my I-pod and started to listen to _Breaking a Sweat_ by Skrillex, and as you know me… I started to dance ever so slightly on my way to the school building. "_I'm breakin' a sweat… It's alright!_" The words reverberated in my head. I didn't really meet my friends until about half to the door. Chie and Yukiko came running up to me.

"Morning." Yukiko said as polite as always. Chie smiled up at me.

"Yo!" I smiled back at these two… they were good friends. I was almost worried that I bothering them when I wanted to hang out with Chie, but knowing them they would just laugh or say that it wasn't true.

"Sup," I did my two finger salute into the piece sign at them. "This rain is gonna get annoying, escpecailly if… Does anyone know how long this storm is supposed to last?"

We all knew what the rain could mean for us if it stayed around till midnight, there could possibly be another victim soon. None of us wanted that. Chie thought about it for a moment. "I can't really remember…"

"W-well it doesn't really matter unless the Midnight Channel appears," I smiled at them. I was just trying to be brave for them but still, it was so that none of us wanted there to be another victim. "Come guys, there is no real reason for us to assume that there really will be another victim! So let's just make through midterms first."

"Yeah!" Both of them smiled as we finally walked into the school building. Though to tell you the truth… I didn't even believe my own words at that time.

* * *

Time Change: Early Morning to Morning

Mr. Hosoi was supposed to be teaching the class today, but we all know who that works out with someone like Mr. Hosoi, failed in the fits like five seconds… How did it happen this time? A female student spoke up about a book series. "Mr. Hosoi? Have you picked up the latest edition of 'Bullied Teacher' yet?"

"Of course I did. But it's raining today." Mr. Hosoi was so easy to get off track. "I hope I can get it home without getting it all wet…"

I whispered to Chie. "I hope that you can get on with it…"

"Yeah," Chie had her head on her hand. This was one of the most boring classes that we had to take. "Except he might give us something to study for the exam."

"So, uh," Mr. Hosoi continued his speech about his book… we are going to fail at life if this is what are teachers do to us… "Does anyone have an extra book cover they'd be kind enough to lend me? Whoops, I have to start the lecture! Don't try to distract me by talking about books!"

"I'm going to sleep now…" I sighed and put my face against my desk… "Just wake me if he ask me a question."

Thankfully… I was later told that he asked Yu a really stupid question… as was the way this school worked.

* * *

Time Change: Early Morning to Afterschool

The thunder part of the storm had finally started up, I like thunderstorms, they were basically the drums of nature… um, that sounded weird, eh, who cares? Well we were sitting in the class room after school when the thunder started to rumble. Chie suddenly looked to the ground, I was about to ask her if she was okay, but of course here came Yosuke with useless info. "Hey Chie, I bought you a new copy of that _Trial of the Dragon_ flick. It was a Greatest Punches version for 980 yen. If I knew then, I'd have just replaced it instead of buying you grilled steak."

"You're a little late there buddy." I smiled up at Yosuke, which of course confused the hell out of him.

"Huh? Why?"

"I got her one of those a long time ago." That's when I realized I should have shut up right then and there. How do I know this… Yosuke's evil smile that's how! "Oh shit!"

"Oh," Yosuke made a mocking face at me. "Well, it looks like you make a great boyfriend for her!"

"At least I can get a girlfriend Brosuke!" I jumped up out of my desk and jabbed my index finger into his chest. "Yeesh, I wish you would have just taken the ten thousand yen…"

That's when there was another flash of lighting, so I started counting until the sound of the thunder hit my ears; it was about six miles off. That's when Chie really started to freak out. "This is clearly getting closer…!"

"Huh…?" Yosuke seemed surprised at this, so was I, Chie, the girl who could have signal han- footed… yeah, that sounds better! Signal footed, kill hundreds of shadows, was scared of a storm. "What are you, scared of a little lightning?"

"Quiet, you!" Chie was pissed at him for this! I was amazed, I loved these kinds of storms, boy… this might cause some problems later down the road. "I'd be a goner if even one of those things hit me!"

The moment she finished talking there was another flash of lighting and thunder, that one was right on top of us! "Eek!"

"Hahaha," Yosuke started to laugh, which kinda pissed me off! "You're freakin' out way too much. C'mon, shouldn't weather like this help with your kung fu training? A bolt of lightning would hit and it'd give you the inspiration for a new move! There was a scene like that in your DVD, wasn't there?"

I smacked Yosuke upside his head; he was being a major dick at that moment. "It doesn't work like that, but it'll help hide your screams of pain when I kick your ass!"

"What did I do!?"

"You're being a dick to my girlfriend!" I shouted back at him, I was starting to think that we were louder than the storm! "If lightning does strike anyone, I hope it's you!"

The moment I finished saying that, there was a lightning strike that went off right over the school and the power went out at that moment. I felt bad for Chie; I sat back down next to her and gently put my hand on her shoulder. Yukiko decided to state the obvious at that exact moment. "Huh? Is this a blackout?"

"That's what you get for saying that stuff, Kreed." I kicked Yosuke in the shin. "Ow! What the hell was that for!?"

"Being you!" Yosuke phone went off at that moment, he answered it, but I only heard his end of the conversation.

"It's from my manager…" You mean your dad? "Hello…? Wait, what!? But my pay… Wai-"

"Bitch please!" I pointed my finger in his face. "That's what you get for being a dick!"

"Ugh," Yosuke started to flip out, he sounded so pissed off! "Why did this have to happen!?"

Chie turned to Yukiko with a frown on her face. "Hey, Yukiko… can we just go home?"

"Chie," Yukiko seemed like she had an evil smile on her face. "Do you know this story? A girl forgot her homework, so she snuck into school in the middle of the night, but she suddenly needed to use the bathroom… She ventured into the girls' room, where all the lights were off. No one should have been there, but in the mirror…"

"Hold it right there!" Chie seemed scared now, I was too, I hate HORROR! "What're you talking about!?"

"NO HORROR!" I yelled at Yukiko… wait, that story almost sounded like Bloody Mary… I wasn't going to sleep tonight…

"Huh?" Yukiko seemed surprised at our sudden outburst… that was just WRONG! "It's just a ghost story. I thought Chie like them."

I looked at Chie with a very funny look on my face, well… I'm not taking her to a horror movie, I'd be screaming more than her… "Yeah, but why tell it now!?"

I noticed that Chie was so close to crying, I decided to try and comfort her without embarrassing both of us. So, I just talked her down. "Chie, its fine… I'm here, I won't let anything happen to you."

"Y-you promise…?" Chie was still close to crying, but I put my hand on hers.

"I promise." Chie still looked scared, but she didn't seem like she was gonna cry anymore. Yu finally spoke up too.

"Yeah, guys, that was a little uncalled for." Yu Narukami… master of his maze of relationships…

"Thanks…" Chie looked at Yu first, then turned back to me and moved her head so that our fingers were intertwined. "I'm glad you're here Kreed… and you too Yu-kun."

Yosuke sighed and looked at me and Chie. "Why don't you just have him escort you back home, Chie?"

"A-are you making fun of me!?" I turned to Yosuke with an evil grin.

"No," I was still holding Chie's hand; her grip was tightening up as she got pissed at Yosuke. "He's making fun of us!"

"Yosuke!" Yu tried to get his friend's attention. "Run and don't stop until you reach the town limits!"

The power came back on the moment Yu finished talking, I looked to Chie and smiled. "See, told ya nothing bad would happen."

"T-thanks," Chie smiled at me, though her cheeks were a little red. "C'mon, Kreed, Yukiko, let's go home!"

"Agreed," I stood up, I was kinda freaking out to tell you the truth, I was worried that the storm would develop a tornado! Don't laugh, that shit is an insta-kill! "See ya later Yu-sama! Yosuke, what Yu told you to do, you should listen to him!"

With that, Chie nearly dragged me to the door of the school. I couldn't help but smile, yeah. I this relation was gonna last for a while.

* * *

Time Change: After School to Evening

"Yo! Will!" I called out to my friend as I noticed him sitting on the couch. "What's up?"

"Nothing really…" Will sighed as he looked at his phone. "Hey, did the rest of town loose power as well?"

"Yeah," I smiled as I jumped the couch and landed right next to and turned on the TV. "The school last power and everything. Why you wanna know?"

"Just wondering…" Will sighed and looked at me. He looked like he had something on his mind. "So, what's the Midnight Channel?"

I stopped dead… I was hoping that question would never come up, oh god! There was no way for this to end well. "Oh, that… I-it's just a local rumor! I tried it out like I did Bloody Mary back in the states! I-it was to-totally fake! N-nothing to it, just a rumor… it has nothing to do with the murders!"

"I never asked if it had to do with the murder cases." FUCK! That was my fault… yeah, not the best under pressure. "So, truthfully… what is it?"

"Fine," I sighed, I didn't want to bring him into this, but… "You are supposed to watch a TV at Midnight on a rainy night, and it has to be off. The person that appears on the screen, is supposed to be your soul mate… T-the cops have gotten prank calls that it has to do with the murders, I only kn-know that because one of my friends has an uncle that is a cop!"

"Ok," Will sighed like he had given up trying to question me. He knew I was a good lair… some times, others… it was just way too obvious. "Well, I'm just curious, because it sounds like that rumor that we grew up with… what was it called…? Oh, yeah! The Dark Hour!"

"Yeah," I laughed, that was such a stupid rumor! A hidden hour between Midnight and the next day! Who would believe that! Everyone almost completely forgot about it almost two years ago… still, I couldn't help but laugh! I kept telling people that it was real, but I totally forgot about the same time as everyone else! Will got up and started to walk down the hall. "Going to bed?"

"Yeah," Will smiled at me as he made his way to his room. "Night! Don't wake up in the Dark Hour!"

"Same to you!" I smiled as I continued to watch the TV, though; I could shake this feeling about that rumor… "The Dark Hour, huh?"

* * *

_**BOOM! PLOT TWIST! Just kidding, or am I!? Still though, not much to say this time. Except the usual, hope you enjoyed and please send me your feedback!**_

_**Songs**_

_**Breaking a Sweat- Skrillex**_


	24. Chapter 24: First Date Dark Memories

May 8, 2011

Forecast…. Cloudy

"I really don't want to study…" I was lying on my bed with my head dangling off the side of it, why was I doing this? Because it was Sunday and I was bored out of my god damned mind! Will actually got out of the house! I tried to make fun of him for the pure fact he was going somewhere with Yukiko today… Chie needed to study for Midterms, as she had told me many a times that her grades were not the best. Just when I was about to give up and study though… my phone went off. I looked at the number and smiled… who else would truthfully call me to hangout other than her. "Hello."

"Oh, hello?" She didn't sound confused, she just wanted to make sure I was paying attention. "It's me, Chie. Would you mind hanging out with me for a while today? I need to get my mind off of studying for a bit…"

"So for that you call up your study partner?" I smiled as I poked fun at my girlfriend; I could just hear her get flustered at my statement.

"Wha- what!?" I think I was gonna get slapped when I saw her.

"I'm joking Chie," I laughed lightly as I got myself into a sitting position. "I'd love to hang out with you today."

"Great! See you soon!"

"Yep," I smiled just before we hung up I got another little thing to poke fun at her in, but it was also something that I kinda wanted that we haven't really done yet. "It's a date!"

She hit the end button before she could react fully, so all I heard was. "Wha-!"

I laughed to myself as I ran for the door, today was gonna be fun!

* * *

Time Change: Early Morning to Daytime

"Just be happy I don't kick you a hundred times for that!" Me and Chie were just walking around town for a while. She did smack me when we finally met up. I just laughed lightly as we walked, this was the first day in that we would actually be alone since we started dating. "So, where are we going again?"

"You'll see my dear Chie!" I pointed start into the sky as we kept walking, we were actually getting further away from Inaba along a road. "I wanted to come to this place since the last meeting of the investigation team."

"Why didn't you go then?" Chie titled her head at me.

"I wanted to share it with someone close to me." I smiled back at her. She, of course, blushed that light pink again. Damn it was hard for me not to look at her at times like this. "And, I wanted to do something with you, hell; we could even train up here sometimes!"

That was when we reached to top of the hill, to be met with a very beautiful scene. I just shrugged as me and Chie walked up to fence to look out over the town. "Damn, that is quiet a view!"

"Yeah," Chie smiled as she looked out to the small city of Inaba. I, of course in that clichéd way, looked at her when thinking of beautiful; she looked back to me with a smile forming on her lips. The hike up to the hill took a good hour at least, but when you're with someone close to you like Chie was to me… it only felt like maybe twenty minutes. "What is there something on my face? I mean I had a meat bun before I left, is there any juice or meat on my face?"

I couldn't help but laugh at her; I put my hand on her cheek and smiled at her. "No, you look perfect. Even if there would have been left over food." She blushed greatly now, I leaned in close to her to try and kiss her until… my hand on the fence that I was using to keep me up, slipped off the fence sending me to the ground. "Ow…"

"Kreed!" Chie helped me to my feet. "Are you okay!?"

"Never better!" I smiled at her. I was still in a little pain; I mean come one, I hit my head for god's sake! Chie walked me over to the bench, as we sat down I held my head. "Unless you count the massive head ache."

Chie gave me a worried look, I just smiled at her. We were still kinda close, but she was more worried about me than how close we were. I looked back out to the small town that I now called home. I didn't want to leave at that moment, but things can change. Yet, for all that it is worth, Chie made me want to stay and want to live. I finally had a reason for living, I wrapped an arm around Chie and held her against my side, my head was still throbbing just a bit, but I was feeling better than I had a moment ago. "Seriously Chie, I'm okay, trust me. It takes a lot more than a bump to the head to take me out!"

"Are you sure?" Chie started to blush again, only slightly, I think she was starting to realize that I touched her a lot… I know what that sounds like, but, for the first time in my life, I had someone I wanted to, if anything, feel their presence near my. I suck at that kinda stuff though, so physical contact (not like Yosuke's mind would jump to… {he is a perv}) let me know that she was there and real. "we should probably get you to a doctor."

"I'm fine," I smiled at her; I couldn't help but laugh a little. "I'm gonna be just fine. I know it."

"O-okay," Chie was looking me in the eye now, before she was looking around my head to see if she could see any sign of a bruise or lump. We just sat there for a moment; we slowly started to lean closer, the close we got the brighter shade of red we got. We were finally at the point that I was surprised that we didn't glow red and pink, we were mere inches apart I could hear her heart beating fast. I put my arms around her waist, this was awkward while sitting down, but I still brought her in the last few inches for a hug. "Wh-what are you doing!?"

"Making sure I'm not dreaming." I smiled as I tightened my grip on her, she moved her arms and did the same to me, it may have been embarrassing for us, but it let us feel needed and cared for. I never wanted that day to end. Yet, even then… we still had to get home at some point, around the time the sun started to set, we parted ways and went home. I felt like I was going to sleep incredible well that night, I didn't even notice when Will came home.

* * *

Date: Unknown

Forecast: Unknown

Location: Unknown

Time: Unknown

"**They still won't listen to you?**" The voice sounded angry and confused for some reason. "**Am I not real enough for you to make them believe?**"

"I never said that!" I stomped my foot, I didn't recognize the figure in this memory, or the details. "Why do you always change your personality!? Last time you visited, you didn't care that no one believed me! The time before that, you cried about it! Now, you're just pissed at me!"

"**Quite boy!**" The figure was hiding in the shadows of the room, I couldn't turn on a light, nothing electronic worked at that time. "**You must make people want to see this wonder time of day, or they will never visit it!**"

"Why do you want people to visit this time!?" I was pissed, the figure always did a 180 on me! One day he would be nice, the next; shy, now he was just pissed! "I didn't want to visit it! You told me yourself… I was forced here!"

"**Do not yell at me!**" The figure still just stood there in the shadows, suddenly it looked out of the window and towards the moon, it was a day away from being full… how do I know, the figure always told me. "**Tomorrow, the twelfth will be dealt with, and the Fall will follow it shortly… I thank you for your help… I must leave you now, the time of Midnight is upon us, and I leave with the darkest hour. Next time you see me, I hope you are looking for your salvation at the Fall of everything.**"

* * *

_**Dun dun duuuuuuuuuuuuuun! Well, here's a short little chapter for you guys, besides this one, there will not be an update on Easter. I will try and update on Monday, if not then, then Tuesday. After all, I'm finally on Spring Break… for High School, anyway! Hope you enjoyed and please send me your feedback! Thanks to those who are continusly sending in their feedback! vincent the vizard, 13theAce, and SaudraeOfSunday, you guys have helped me fix some stuff and give me some great ideas... keep 'em coming!**_


	25. Chapter 25: Midterms, Take 1

May 9, 2011

Forecast… Cloudy

The dreaded day had finally arrived; the day I had been fearing for the last few days was here… MIDTERMS! To be honest, I was as ready as I wanted to be, but after my nightmare last night… to say that I was out of it was an understatement. I had never experienced that moment in my inter life, so why would I dream about it… and what in the hell is the Fall? I didn't think that it truly mattered in any event… it still scared me though, it seemed all too real; then again, some dreams just do that to you. Anyway, I sighed as I looked up at the clouds, it wasn't supposed to rain today, but knowing weather, the sky could have opened up at that exact moment. I was starting to get lost in my worries when I heard a familiar voice call out to me. "Morning…"

I turned around to see Chie run up to my side. "Exams are finally starting today… Really life's harsh…"

"I don't think so," I smiled as I placed a hand on her shoulder. She smiled back at me; we both had yesterday on our minds it would seem. Even for all the shit that was running through my head, it seemed like I was almost always thinking about Chie. Not in a creepy way, just little things about her, like the way she usually had a bounce in her step as she moved normally. "Besides, I helped you study didn't I, you should do great… wait, other than with me, did you study?"

Chie sobbed a little as she looked up at me. "Can't you tell? Do I look like I'm ready?"

"No."

"That's about right…" Chie sighed as we kept walking to school. "Oh yeah! I almost forgot, do you think that Em… um, Em-senpai will have to take the exams…?"

"Even if she does," I looked back to the sky, letting out a long sigh I looked back to Chie. "She'll pass, she always does…"

Chie just tilted her head at me; I didn't want her to worry about anything, so I just smiled back at her. "Hey, are you okay Kreed… you know you can tell me just about anything right?"

Damn! She's good, my smile faded and I looked in Chie's eyes as we reached the gates of school. "I know… I trust you Chie Sotanaka, with all my heart and that other clichéd stuff."

Chie smiled at me once again, I couldn't bring myself to though, I had a feeling that my nights were about to get much worse…

* * *

Time Change: Early Morning to Morning

Midterms Day 1

I leaned forward in my chair looking over the answers to the test, I was barely paying any attention to the questions that were on the test, I was almost done with my test until I noticed a question that seemed familiar to me… What is it called when muscles grow after exercise? The choses that were give where: A. Overgrowth B. Overcompensation or C. Overexertion. I rolled my eyes at how ironic it was that the person who gave this question was currently watching over the class. Still I didn't even look at the test for the answer I chose.

What is the year before 1 A.D. called? Okay I didn't even need to look at the test to answer that one… really? Well, no wonder Yosuke ain't the sharpest tool in the shed! This point was really proven when I heard Yosuke's voice whisper behind me. "Hey, Kreed?"

"What!?" I almost turned around and slapped him! We were testing! I don't want to get in trouble because he could keep his mouth shut! "We are in the middle of a test! Can't it wait!?"

"I just wanna know," Yosuke's voice got so quite that I couldn't really hear him. "What's the answer to number forty-five?"

Forty-five was the question I was currently on. I sighed at how stupid he was being, I looked over at Chie, she looked like she was completely focused on finishing this test to the point that she didn't even hear us talking! "Zero B.C."

"Oh duh!" Yosuke almost slapped his forehead with how stupid he thought he was, I sighed and put down my answer and continued with the testing. Yosuke had just proved that his intellect was a low trait that he possessed…

* * *

May 10, 2011

Forecast… Cloudy

Midterms day 2

I was again just blazing through all the questions on the test, not even paying attention to the answers I wrote down, this was getting to be almost too easy! I was almost done with my test when I heard a slickly sound rise from my stomach… Chie and Yosuke stared at me for a moment, I sank into my chair; I had forgotten to eat that morning. The many reason was because I was running late, I barely made it into the class room on time to take the exam! "Was that you?"

"No Yosuke it was tiger next to you!" I half growled at him. "I didn't have any time to eat this morning!"

"And lunch isn't for another forty-five minutes," Chie sighed next to me. She pulled something out of her jumper's jacket, it kinda looked like gum, but it smelled like meat. "Here, to help tie you over."

"Um…" I inspected the gum-meat… stuff closely, I nodded at Chie and threw a piece in my mouth when I determined that is was safe to eat. "Than-"

"Kreed? Are you okay?" I stopped, oh my god! This was horrible! This didn't even taste right, why would anyone even make something like this! Well, one good thing came out of the gum… I finished my test quicker than I ever had…

* * *

May 11, 2011

Forecast… Sunny in the Morning, mostly Cloudy in the evening

Midterms day 3

After yesterday… I, I almost didn't show up to take the test, that day scared me for life! I would never take another piece of gum from Chie again… Still, time waits for no one, so I went to school to take the exams, which I was once again blazing through all of them. Everyone in the investigation had thought I was a genius! Really, I just wanted to get the test over with… I was on the last page of the exam when… _SNAP!_ I looked down at my pencil, the damn thing broke… King Moron, who was watching the class this day of the exam, heard it to. "HEY! That better not have been signal for the answers to the test! Damn brats!"

I rolled my eyes at him, asshole! I reach for one of my other three pencils, I continued to take the exam, and after three questions… _SNAP! _Are you kidding me? What the hell? King Moron heard the pencil break… again. "Hey! What did I just say!? If I found out who is making that sound, they will get a zero on their test!"

Chie looked over at me, she was worried, but I just shrugged and reached for another pencil. Yet, luck was not on my side, I was one the last two questions, when… _SNAP!_ WHAT THE FUCK!? THIS IS BULLSHIT! Now I was kinda pissed off! There is no way in hell this should be happening, though lady luck must have had some sympathy, because King Moron didn't turn to look for the sound this time. I reached for my last pencil and finished my exam. Sighing I set my pencil down on my desk, turned in my exam and went to sit down. Chie looked at me again, I was calm again. "You okay?"

"Yeah," I smiled at her. "No big deal, after all one pencil surv-"

I spoke way too soon; I didn't hear the first sound, but the second one I heard clearly… _SNAP! _I looked to the ground next to my desk; my last pencil that I owned currently landed led first into the ground. I looked up to the ceiling of the class room. "_Fuck you god… just fuck you!"_

* * *

May 12, 2011

Forecast… Cloudy

Final day of Midterms

Today was the day I had been waiting for! The last day of exams! Hell, Yosuke didn't even show up! Yet, they wanted a freaking essay about you… I was the last person left to take the exam… I had no idea what to write about myself, I looked around the room for something, after about an hour of thinking… I finally started the essay with: _Can you be scared of death, if you tried to invite it in?_

* * *

Time Change: Morning to After School

"FINALLY!" I practically jumped out of my desk the moment the bell rang for the end of the school day. "That was freaking torture!"

"You can say that again." I just about had a heart attack when I heard Yosuke speak up from behind me.

"Jesus Christ!" I started to breath heavy and held a hand over my heart. "WHERE THE HELL DID YOU COME FROM!?"

"Huh?" Yosuke shrugged. "Oh, well, I figured that my score really wouldn't change if I showed up for the last day, so… I didn't show up."

"Dude!" I face palmed at Yosuke, he really was an idiot. "It was a personally fucking essay! All you had to do was write about some boring thing in your life!"

"Wh-what!?" Now Yosuke noticed how stupid he was!

"Hey," Chie actually growled at us from her desk next to me. "Quiet down! So, what did you write for number seven? The one about what 'that' referred to in the sentence."

She was talking to Yukiko about the answers to the test, well, not like it was the ACT's where that was actually illegal! Still, me and Yu just shrugged hearing to girls talk. "Um… I put 'her sorrowful expression.'"

Yukiko was actually write on that question, but Chie could have been too, don't believe me, well, here was her answer. "Oh crap, then I got it wrong! I put, 'the rice cakes on top of the table.'"

See, told you! Still, not like Chie was ever really gonna need English in her life. "Rice cakes…? Wait, was that what the story was about…?"

"Maybe," I shrugged, braving the fact that they didn't say that I had the right to remain silent. "Usually, they're supposed to give you different test so that you can't cheat… but then again, I don't really know how this school system works…"

"Alright, I'm giving up on composition." Chie looked gloom now, I felt bad for her, we actually did get some studying in, just not as much as we should have, but still… she tried right. "I'm gonna bet it all on geography!"

She looked to me, a smile on her face again. Crap, I really didn't wanna be asked anything about the exam… "What did you choose for the tallest mountain in the solar system?"

"I, uh… think I put Mt. Olympus…" I rubbed the back of my head; I really didn't mean to let the next part slip… I knew I was gonna get questioned on this later. "I really didn't pay attention to the answers I put down… but I still think I put down Mt. Olympus."

"Oh, seriously!?" Chie seemed shocked now, my guess, she got it wrong. "I chose the wrong one…"

Logic three, me eight now! BOOM! At least I think it's eight, meh, anyway! Yu spoke up from next to Yosuke. "I chose that one too."

"So did I." Yukiko also spoke up, yep, the three geniuses… what!? Hey, I'm smarter than I look okay! Still, I didn't think I was gonna get a good grade, not that I cared if I did or not. Still, Yosuke seemed shocked that the three of us got the same answer.

"Whoa, you too!?" His voice quickly became almost depressed. "Then it's probably the right answer if all three of them got it… Boy, I can't wait for our grades to be posted out in the hall where everyone can see 'em. Geez…"

"WHAT!?" This time I actually did jump out of my seat! "THEY CAN DO THAT!? WHAT THE FU- I mean hell…"

"Yeah," Yosuke looked back at me. "You didn't know that?"

"Of course not!" Now, I was really worried! "This is gonna suck…"

"Hey, did you hear?" This time it was a random student that spoke up, and we… just being who we are, started to ease drop. "A TV station's filming here in town."

His friend didn't seem to excited about what he was saying, but still, we needed to listen for any rumors, lest someone get kidnapped again. "They're probably just doing more stuff about that hanging corpse case."

"No, it's not that. You know the highway nearby? They're gonna cover those biker gangs that hang around there. A friend of mine goes to the biker meetings sometimes. I heard it from him."

"Dude, what are you doing hanging out with a guy from a biker gang?"

The rest was nothing important other than it might rain tomorrow, but we all came back out of their conversation and into one of our own. Yukiko was the first to speak, and she seemed confused. "Biker gang?"

"Oh yeah…" Chie didn't seem too happy to be on this subject, I guess I was far enough away from them, that I couldn't hear anything, but still. "They raise a ruckus from time to time. I guess your place is too far away to hear 'em."

"We live right by the road." Yosuke decide that he could put his two cents in, but the more info we have the better, even if this was just about something stupid. "The noise can drive you insane."

"I hear some guys at this school are part of it, too." Chie was in rumor mode now, great, way to go random kids next to us.

"I can't really hear them from where I'm at." I shrugged, but this could be a problem, one of them could be targeted, because who wants to save a biker… right? "But, at one of my old schools, there was a biker gang. They were always getting into trouble with the cops…"

"Yeah," Yosuke seemed surprised that I knew people who were in a biker gang. "You didn't seem like the type to do that kinda stuff."

"Dude!" I smacked him on the back of the head. "I never said I was part of it! Besides, I never talked to any of them."

"Well," Yosuke rubbed the spot that I had smacked. "I know there are some rumors about a first-year student here who's a total hellraiser. One of the guys working at Junes said the dude's been a legend ever since middle school. Although… Was he in a biker gang…?"

Yukiko's eyes lit up like Christmas tree as the words left Yosuke's mouth. "D-did you say he was a legend?"

I almost face palmed at that comment, really Yukiko… really? Chie felt my pain as well. "Uh, it's not what you think, Yukiko…"

I whispered to Yu. "I guess she really is looking for a prince."

Yu had to stop himself from laughing so that we didn't get killed by Yukiko. I pulled out my phone and sighed… "This sucks…"

"What's up?" Yosuke looked at me. I put my phone back into my pocket. "I got a text a few minutes ago. I gotta get a room ready in my house for my sister to stay in… yeesh, I'm not sure that there will be room for all of her stuff though… especially her guitar…"

"Wait," Chie looked at me with confusion on her face. "I thought she was a photographer?"

"Yeah," I sighed at her, this was weird to talk about my sister… "She does, but she really likes playing the guitar as well, the only problem is that she doesn't really like people to know that…"

"Oh." Everyone just kinda looked to the group when I finished talking.

"So," I started to walk to the door. "I'll text ya guys later!"

With that I was out the door and way to do chores… fuuuuuun… Not!

* * *

_**Well, this is a little earlier than I thought that I would finish up this chapter, but still… not like anyone's complaining right? So, hope you enjoyed and please send me your feed back!**_


	26. Chapter 26: Midnight Problems

May 14, 2011

Forecast… Rainy

I literally did nothing on the thirteenth, so let's skip it! Sound good… no, too bad. Anyway, we were sitting at our desk as the rain basically plastered the side of the school building with water. Chie was looking out of the window; there really was nothing we could do today, even though it was after school. I walked up to the window next to her; we knew what the rain could mean, but still… I smiled at her. "If only it wasn't coming down so hard. Then we could still hang out."

She sighed and gripped my hand. "Let's just hope that it Yukiko was the last victim…"

"Hey," I smiled was doing my best not to worry about it. "Even if the weather report is right, and there is another victim… we can do it!"

We walked back to the rest of the team, who were actually surrounding Yu's desk for once! Finally! "So we need to watch for the show tonight." Yosuke voiced what everyone was thinking. Yukiko seemed to be the one to voice the most concern for this subject.

"I hope we don't see anyone…" We all hoped for that, no one wanted to have to worry about saving someone before it rains again… Yet, we also needed it, Yu, Yosuke, and me all understood that much.

"Yeah, that'd be best." Yosuke tried not to sigh as the word left his mouth. "But if we do, maybe we'll see some kinda clue that can point us toward the killer…"

"Hell," rubbed the back of my neck with my free hand. "Any clue would be best for us, even if its just that he likes a certain food!"

"How would that help?" Yukiko seemed confused about my statement.

"Well," I moved my hand so that all but one of my fingers were curled, so that my hand was in the, "as a matter of fact," pose. "If the killer likes a weird food, kinda like sushi with say… whipped cream… sounds gross, well if it doesn't to the killer, we can narrow it down."

"Oh!" Yukiko looked like she understood me, until. "Really…?"

"W-well everyone," Chie tried to change the subject, not needing me to say disturbing food for the next few hours. "Don't forget to check your TV tonight! Got it?"

We all nodded, we knew what was coming, and it was time. The rain was supposed to stay through the night. We were about to learn if Yukiko was the last victim, we all had our doubts… yet I just remembered a small problem. "Crap!"

"What wrong?" Chie looked at me, as did everyone else but I was focused on Chie here.

"My sis is moving in tonight!" I face palmed at my own forgetfulness. "Damnit! How did I forget that!?"

"Whoa," Yosuke stopped my ranting. "I thought you were already living in the same house."

"Oh my god!" I face palmed again. "Did you forget what I said two days ago!? I was trying to get a room in my house ready for just that!"

"Oh." Yosuke rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry."

That was when the door opened up. "Brother?"

"Speak of the devil and she shall appear…" I shook my head at Em's horrid timing. I nodded at the team and reluctantly let go of Chie's hand. "See you guys later."

"Bye Kreed-kun." Yukiko bowed as I left the group.

"See ya!" Yosuke nodded.

"Later." Yu also nodded.

"I text you later!" Chie smiled at me as I finally exited the room.

"Okay Em," I sighed, this was gonna kill my back, and I knew it. "Let's get this over with…"

"Brother," Em was looking at the ground as we walked. "Are you… N-never mind…"

"You okay?" Em was not one to just keep quiet about things, so already I knew that something was up. Hell, even when she knew that she would get in trouble she would tell our mom if something was bothering her. "You can tell me, you may drive me crazy half the time, but you can tell me if something is wrong."

"I know I can."

* * *

Time Change: After School to Evening

Just before Midnight

"My back barely survived that holy shit!" I rubbed my back as I sat in my room waiting for Midnight; I walked to my window as I heard the rain pelting my window. "It's almost time now…" I actually felt scared a bit, what if someone close to me showed up, what would I do then…? I was scared just about that fact. I didn't think that Chie, or me, hell I didn't even think that it would be my sister. I started to shake my leg when all of a sudden the TV came on, just like it did the first it did with Yukiko… The screen was incredibly blurry and I couldn't really see who was on it. Yet, there was something about this person that was on the screen…

It took a moment, as in… just before the screen went away, I finally noticed it, the person was definitely not a girl… it was a guy! It was so wrong! It ruined our entire freaking theory! Though, just before my phone went off… I thought that I saw the image on the Midnight Channel change. "What th- I-I mean, hello!?"

"Did you see that!?" Chie almost yelled at me through the phone. This was a bad thing, I was just confused about the screen changing, if it even did that… "Was that a guy!?"

"I do believe so…" I was still focusing on the fact that I think there were two people on the Midnight Channel, but then again… it is Midnight and I was freaking tired… "Hey, Chie…? Did the image change just before the TV turned off?"

"Huh?" Now she sounded confused. "No of course not… why do you ask?"

"N-no reason…" I sighed, so I was just going crazy, great. "Hey, did you already call up Yu, Yosuke, Yukiko?"

"Yeah," Holy shit my girlfriend is fast… "I was on the phone with Yukiko when the channel first showed up tonight."

"Okay," I was about to fall asleep right then and there. "Hey, I'm pretty sure that we're gonna meet up at Junes tomorrow and talk about this… so, let's convene about it then… Night Chie."

"Okay," Chie sounded like she had something on her mind, but she didn't peruse it. "Night."

With that, Chie hung up and I went to lie down on my bed… yet God must have hated for telling him off during midterms, because Will burst through my door. "WHAT THE FUCK!?"

"What…?"

"My soul mate is a dude!?"

"Fuck you again God, just fuck you!"


	27. Chapter 27: Tuned in!

May 15, 2011

Forecast… Cloudy in the morning, and rain into the night

"Sorry it took me so long…" I sat down next to Chie and Yu at our table in the food court. I was trying so hard not to yawn with tired I was, Will kept me up until two, so I ended up over sleeping until almost noon, which was actually when they wanted to meet up. "Will kept me up… he, uh… saw the Midnight Channel last night…"

"What!?" Yosuke started to freak out. "You didn't tell him anything did you!?"

"Only that the Midnight Channel wasn't showing you your soul mate." I shrugged and looked at the table… Yosuke just shrugged as he cleared his throat.

"Ahem, we will now hold a meeting on our investigation of the serial kidnapping-slash-murder case here in Inaba." Yosuke was trying to sound professional… it didn't work. Yet Yukiko's face lit up.

"Dude, take a breath!" Chie tried to get Yosuke to slow down. It was actually something I think we needed to do.

"Yeah," I pulled out a melon soda from my backpack (yes, I always care it, it has my baseball bat in it.) "That was a mouthful."

"Oh," Yukiko finally spoke up. "Then does that make this place our special headquarters?" No, not really…

"Yes! Exactly!" I was gonna hit Yosuke… "Nicely put, Yukiko."

"Special headquarters…" Chie… not you too! "Hmm, that does have a nice ring to it…"

"Screw it…" I through my hands up and smiled. "Well, the Persona investigators have a special headquarters of a food court… not exactly what you would think, but what the hell, why not!?"

"I like it too." Yu smiled as he took another sip from his drink. Yosuke finally decided that it was time to get on topic.

"Anyways, as for what was on last night…" Yu was the first person to respond, which was a freaking miracle in its own right.

"Did you watch last night?" He didn't seem concerned about it what so ever.

"I saw it too!" Chie looked right at Yu; I started to rub the bottom of my chin. Something still didn't seem right about my TV screen changing, but Chie didn't see it… so I left it at that. "I couldn't get a good view of the person's face, but it was a guy wasn't it?"

"Yeah, it was…" That's when something came to my mind. "He kinda looked like a high schooler if you ask me, but he also seemed familiar now that I think about it…"

"I thought the same thing." Yu nodded in agreement with me.

"So that's how I looked on TV…" I had just remembered that it was Yukiko's first time seeing the Midnight Channel. "Hm? Wait a moment. Didn't all the victims have one thing in common? That they were females with ties to the first incident?"

"Technically that's two things, but yeah." I sighed a bit. "This throws off your first guess about what the victims had in common…"

"True…" Yosuke sighed as well, this was troubling for us. "But we still don't know who exactly we saw."

"Doesn't mean that we're wrong either…" I looked up at the sky. "The victims could have a tie to the announcer and not be female, but until we know for a fact who the current victim is will be we cannot truthfully make an assumptions…"

"That's true." Yukiko nodded at my statement. "In my case, the image on the Midnight Channel changed after I was kidnapped, right?"

"Yeah," Yosuke was starting to catch on to what Yukiko was getting at. "The screen got clear all of a sudden and the program looked like some low-budget TV show."

"I very scary low-budget TV show…" I shivered just thinking about the first time I saw someone on the Midnight Channel.

"Come to think of it," Yosuke and everyone, including me, were starting to understand what that world really was… kinda. "Maybe Teddie was right… Maybe we were seeing the other Yukiko from that world."

"Yet," I pointed my finger into the sky. "Since we couldn't get a good view of who the person was…"

"Could that mean…" Yukiko was trying to figure it out, and was right on the money. "He isn't inside the TV yet? If so, then…"

"He's still safe for now." Yu nodded in agreement with where Yukiko was going with this.

"Uh-huh, I think that's safe to assume." I was beginning to think that we, a rag-tag group of teenagers, could finally catch the killer. "If we can figure out who he is, can we prevent him from being taken?"

"Yeah…" Yosuke spoke up now; we were all on track with this subject. "And if all goes well, we might catch the killer in the bargain. But to do that, we need to know who the latest Midnight Channel star is… I hate to say it, but I guess we'll have to wait another night and see what happens."

"Yep." I sighed and downed the rest of my melon soda.

"Ahehem…" Chie cleared her throat causing me to stop with the can still to my mouth. It looked awkward. "Well, that means if my deductions are correct… Though the image was hard to make out, and we can't say for sure who it was, it was definitely a young male. But if that's the case, it goes entirely against our prior assumptions… Since we cannot identify the person at this time, we have no choice but to wait and see what happens!"

I raised an eyebrow at Chie, yes; my girlfriend was just trying to be funny, but still… It took me a moment to realize what she said. Yet, Yosuke beat me to the punch. "That's exactly what we just said."

"Shut up!" That's when we heard it… Yukiko started to chuckle!

"Heehee, aha, ahahahaha!" You know how they say that laughter is infectious… not this time… this time I was just confused… "You're so funny, Chie! Ahahaha, oh no! M-my funny bone…!"

"Not again…" Chie knew that this was gonna go on for a while.

"What even so funny this time…?" I leaned back in my chair again, this time… I put my feet on the ground. "I miss a joke or something?"

"S-sorry, heeheehee!"

"This is how Yukiko really is, huh…" Yosuke seemed surprised by this… to be honest, I wasn't, I knew that no one was that up tight! "Who'd have thought?"

"By the way, about that guy we saw?" Chie totally just blew past the laughing Yukiko and was back on the case… Sorry Yukiko, you will have to suffer. "I get the feeling I've seen him before… Pretty recently, too…"

"He did seem familiar…" I shook my head, man… now the case got me thinking about my nightmare again! "Though, I can't quiet place my finger on it…"

"Yeah," Yosuke knew exactly what we were talking about. "I've been thinking the same thing since last night… Well, let's check the TV again tonight and think about it more tomorrow."

"Let's hope my sister doesn't know about the Midnight Channel rumor…" Just as I finished talking… I heard Yukiko start to laugh again. "SERIOUSLY! If you're gonna laugh… let me in on the damned joke!"

"I wished she just stop!" Chie was just as mad as I was, but only because, there is a thing as laughing too much, Yukiko… had reached that point… "You crazy hyena!"

"Ahahaha! That's a good one, Chie!"

"Oh god… now I know I seem to other people sometimes…"

* * *

Time Change: Daytime to After noon

I was walking back home alone, as Chie went with Yukiko for a bit after she calmed down. I was at the Flood Plain at that point in time, and messing with my I-pod, just trying to find a song to listen too. After a bit, I looked up at the grey clouds, the rain would start in about two hours… at least that's what the report said… I was so focused on my thoughts, that I accidently loosed my grip on the musical device; it fell out of my grip and came off of the head phone jack. "Shit!"

I turned to try and grab it, only for me to trip after grabbing it and after that… I tumbled down the hill. "_SON OF A BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITCH!"_

When I finally came to a stop I was almost at the water's edge, and I was in front of an old lady dressed in all black and a black veil covering her face… "I'm good… nothing broken… ow."

I wasn't saying it to anyone in particular, but the old woman laughed at me. "My, that was quiet a display. Are you alright, umm…?"

"Uh," I turned and looked around to make sure that she was talking to me. "Kreed, Kreed Richards."

"Kreed Richards…" The woman in black looked at me with amusement… It was a little weird, but still, I can't complain. "Kreed-chan, is it? Haha, a lovely name. It suits you."

"Hey!" I almost stomped my foot at her. "What's that supposed to mean!?"

"Whatever you make of it." She smiled at me gently. "Though, I've lived here all my life, but… I don't know you."

"I, uh…" I was confused about what to say to this woman, it's not like she was pissed or making fun of me, she was trying to be friendly. "I just moved here back in April from the states…"

"My, is that so?" She was still smiling at me. I was starting to calm down, there was something about her that seemed familiar, and to be honest… she kinda reminded me of my sister, the way she really acts. "If you're from another country, you may think it's a bit inconvenient here… But I think it's a nice town."

"Actually," I smiled now, damn, this old woman got me feeling sentimental… "I really like it her, it feels more like home then where I'm from."

"Haha, that's nice to hear." The woman was genially happy at that moment, I guess it was just having someone talk to her, I know that's how I felt with Yu and Chie. "It's good to hear pleasant things about your home."

"I guess so… uh…" I was trying to remember what her name was when I remembered that she hadn't given it to me yet.

"Oh, dear." She was still smiling, damn… I kinda felt jealous of her. "I'm sorry, I haven't introduced myself. My name is Hisano Kuroda… I am Death."

That stopped me in my tracks, Death? What the hell was she talking about? "I'm sorry. I'm saying foolish things. Kreed-chan, you're still not used to this town, are you? If you ever have any problems, I can give you some advice. Haha… Though I'm sure you'd rather spend your time with young ladies. Oh, it seems that the rain is gonna start soon, you better get on home now Kreed-chan. I hope we can meet again. Goodbye, now."

"Bye Hisano…" I bowed to show my respect and quickly ran home, just as I made it to the door… the rain started to poor… damn she's good!

* * *

Time Change: After Noon to Evening

Just before Midnight

"Come on clock, move!" I was staring at my clock, the time was 11:59, just before Midnight, but I had been staring at my clock for the last ten minutes! I was still nervous, I was also confused about Hisano… why would she call herself Death, well I had to focus, I needed to know who it was that was gonna show up on the Midnight Channel. Will, was in the living room playing one of the Mass Effect games, not sure which one… Em was in her room, I could hear her plucking at the strings on her guitar. I smiled when I heard it.

Finally the clock was literally seconds from Midnight, when… my door opened and Em came in, God really hated me… "Brother, can I talk to about-"

Em stopped dead, when the screen turned on and the same figure as last time showed up, only this time, I could see the Yasogami High uniform and the bleach blonde hair… Now I thought I knew for a fact who it was, I just could not for the life of me… remember the damned name! "Wh-what is this!?"

Em was staring at the screen with me, when just before the screen turned off, I noticed that the image changed again… I thought I saw a girl with blue hair, but the screen turned off before I got the chance… "Um… TV glitch…?"

Em, was still staring at the turned off TV screen when my phone went off… of course… it was Chie… "Chie… not right now, Em, in room, she saw it…"

I tried to whisper it to Chie, but Em beat her to the punch line. "Was that the rumor I've been hearing about…? What was it the Midnight Channel?"

"She what!?" Chie almost yelled it through the phone.

"Yeah," I sighed. "It was definitely a guy and can we please talk about this tomorrow…"

"O-okay… Night…" She still sounded like she wanted to talk about something, but she knew that Em couldn't hear too much…

"Night." I turned to Em who was muttering to herself. "Hey Em, I promise that I was explain what that was about, but what did you want to talk about?"

"I, uh…" Em was still way too shocked by the Midnight Channel, man my life was over. "I think it can wait… Good night Brother…"

Before I could even say a single word, Em left my room… "What did I ever do to piss you off so much God!?"

* * *

_**Okay, so I think I should warn you guys now... here soon I will be co-writer for a fanfiction with a friend of mine... I don't really know if I will be uploading the chapters or him, but it will be for Mass Effect, but don't worry this story is my focus and will be until completion! So, wish me luck and I hoped you enjoyed, please send me feedback!**_


	28. Chapter 28: We suck at Invetigating!

May 16, 2011

Forecast… Cloudy

"I think that I should just stop trying to watch the Midnight Channel…" I had my face firmly planted on my desk… My life was about to end, because the next person to find out about the Midnight Channel would be my mother… "Anyway… so person on Midnight Channel."

It was after school and we were plotting our plan of attack, which was still trying to name the victim at the moment… Chie was still worried about me, especially since she knew how my sister got. Still, we had to focus on the victim… "Yeah, so the one was on last night… It's THAT guy, right…?"

"Kanji Tatsumi, huh?" My head came off of my desk, Kanji was the guy that I meet on my first day in town… to be honest, I just remembered that. "He definitely didn't look like the social type."

"Not when I met him…" Everyone stopped and looked at me, they all seemed scared… that was one of the most awkward moments that I had ever had with my friends… After a few minutes, I got a little nervous, they were staying quiet… "Oh c'mon! I only met him once! That was so he could point me in the direction that I needed to go to get to my house!"

"That's a bit of a relief," Chie smiled as she sighed slightly, I looked away from her as I started to blush ever so slightly. God, I guess she really cared about me… "Still, Yosuke, that was an understatement. Isn't he really scary?" Not when I talked to him… "Did you see the news special the other day?" No.

"Yeah, I saw it."

Yukiko decided to join the conversation at that point in time as well. "You mean the special on biker gangs? I watched it too. He wasn't like that when he was younger, though…"

"STOP!" I yelled out the word so that the rest of the team would see me. "One, he was nice to me… and two… you knew him when he was little?"

"Well we haven't talked to each other in a long time." There goes my idea… "His family runs a textile shop, and we've been a customer of theirs for many years. So I speak with Kanji-kun's mother from time to time."

"Sooooo," I leaned back in my chair, again… almost falling out of it, but saving myself at the last moment. "Ya know what we should do…?"

"Go check it out!" Yu smiled as he was catching on to what I was talking about… man he's good…

"Sounds good." Chie was in agreed with me and Yu, which was good. The more people behind the idea, the more we would be motivated. "At the very least, we can ask if anything strange has come up lately."

"That's my girl!" I smiled still leaning back in the chair… we didn't do very much couply stuff, but just about everyone in the school knew we were dating, so I didn't try and hide it… Hey, what can I say… I have a problem of not being able to focus on one conversation if I'm not engaged in one. Which, would honestly help if I became a detective, but there was no way in hell that would have happened. So, Chie started to blush slightly as I praised her slightly, which made me smile even more, still we had to focus. "Anyway! Let's get going! We don't want Kanji to be kidna- WHOA!"

That's when I yet again fell out of my chair, only this time… I was a freaking ninja and dodged the chair! "Th-that was close…"

"Ladies and gentlemen…" Chie smiled as she tried not to laugh at me. "My boyfriend the scaredy-cat."

"Not cool Chie! Not cool!"

* * *

Location change: Yasogami High to Shopping District, North end…

Tatsumi Textiles

We all entered the store at the same time, not catching a glimpse of Kanji on the way or into the store, which was worrying us, maybe he was already kidnapped… we had no way of knowing until we saw him. Anyway… we entered the store to find an older woman and a young man… wait, no, that dude looked like a girl… the facial features and curves gave it away for me… Oh my god! That's a girl, I felt like a ass when I first thought that I was looking a guy, still. Yukiko was the first one to talk. "Hello."

The older woman took notice of us, or Yukiko… either way, it was good for us. "Ah, Yuki-chan. It's so nice to see you."

"Well then, if you'll excuse me, Ma'am." Okay, that was definitely a girl, she was talking with a obviously fake, deepish… well it wasn't that deep, still… deepish voice. That's when I noticed something that kinda scared me even more… the girl had blue hair (as well as a blue hat, blue eyes, blue over coat, blue neck tie, plad slacks, that were also blue… man this girl liked blue!)… it reminded me of the image on the Midnight Channel that came after Kanji… was there going to be two victims this time!? The thought to me was scarier than death… Yet I was thrown back on track when the girl turned to us and again in that fake deeper voice talked to us. After Kanji's mom apologized for something. She nodded at us and just walked right out the door. That's when Yosuke said something that made me face palm so hard that the girl turned back around just to make sure everyone was okay…

"What's up with him…? Weirdo." The moment Yosuke finished that sentence, my face hurt to the point I had to sit down. "Dude, are you okay?"

"Yosuke…" I sighed as I slowly stood back up. "Sometimes, your stupidity hurts that much!"

"What are you talking about?" Chie now looked at me like I was crazy, well so did everyone else.

"Yosuke just called that girl a dude." I sighed as I finally made back to my feet. "That's what happened!"

"Wait…" Chie raised an eyebrow at me… oh no! "You mean the guy who just left?"

"I already give up!" I threw my hands up in the air! This was not going to end well. "So, don't mind me, continue…"

This was horrid… was I the only person that knew that guy wasn't a guy… I was brought out of my train of thought by the older woman, who… I'm guessing was Kanji's mother… "Yuki-chan, you're as lovely as always. Your features are starting to remind me of you mother when she was young. How can I help you today? Are you out shopping with your friends?"

"Oh, um, well… actually…" Yukiko, Chie, and Yu walked up to Kanji's mother, Yosuke was looking at some of the contents of the store, when I noticed something on a table in front of us.

"Oh crap!" I jumped back, I was surprised that I was able to even recognize the item, considering I couldn't see anything when I saw the other one. "GUYS! Look, this scarf, wasn't from **that** room in TV!?"

I was pointing at the scarf when Yosuke and Chie came over to see the scarf. "Hm?" Yosuke was stumped for a moment until Chie back stepped with shock.

"You're right! It was in that place!"

"That's right! That room with those faceless posters… Then… it's that announcer's." Yosuke crossed a line with that one, so I did what I always do when he's being a dumbass… I smacked him. "Hey, what was that for!?"

"Too much info given away!"

"Oh…"

"Yeah."

That's when Mrs. Tatsumi turned to the rest of us now standing by the scarf. "Are you acquaintances of Ms. Yamano?"

"Uh, well, kinda…" Smooth Yosuke, real smooth… good thing there wasn't a cop nearby… that would end badly for the investigation team… like abstraction of justice bad… "Um… Did Ms. Yamano happen to have a scarf like this?"

"I think we know the answer to that…" I rolled my eyes as the words left Yosuke's mouth…

"Shhh!" Real smooth Yosuke… you suck at this dude… he really did.

"Yes, it was a special order she placed." That made all of stop dead in our tracks… this was the connection that linked Kanji to Ms. Yamano, we were in trouble now… he really was a target! "She actually ordered a pair, but in the end, she said she only wanted the women's scarf. It left us with no choice but to sell this one separately."

"Oh man… There IS a connection to the first case…!" Chie seemed worried again; I quickly took this opportunity to grab her hand. "What are we gonna do…?"

"It'll be fine…" I looked over the other members of the team, Yosuke looked scared shitless, Yukiko was a little worried, and Yu seemed emotionless… Great! We are the mighty, scaredy-cat persona-users… we fear you! "Even if it does happen, we'll just save him, like we did with you, Yukiko, and me! His shadow can't be that powerful!"

"I guess so…" Chie still looked worried, only just a little less than a moment ago, she knew I was right… all we had to do was do what we did best… Save people from their shadows! "Thanks."

"Anything for you!" I smiled at her, that's when I heard another voice from down the hall of the store.

"Hello! Delivery here for the Tatsumis." It seemed like the delivery man had arrived, so that meant it was time to get out.

"Oh, I'll be right there." Mrs. Tatsumi then turned back to us and started to get up. "I'm sorry, you'll have to excuse me."

"Oh, it's okay." Chie was almost surprised by this, but we did need to leave. "We should get going."

Yukiko was her usually polite self to the old shop keeper. "I'll come again, Ma'am."

"Is that so? Well, then please say help to your mother for me." With that, she left the room and Yosuke actually seemed worried about everything.

"It really is connected to the first case after all…" Yosuke mused out loud, yet this was freaking ridiculous! Why would a killer attack someone because of a scarf!? It was out there, but someone might do it… "But it's just a scarf. Would the killer target someone just because of that…?"

"There are some people…" I looked to the ground, this was stupid! A scarf! That was the motive this time!? "Yet, this is just ridiculous! There has to be another reason for this!"

"C'mon, let's talk outside." Yosuke proposed, but it was a good idea, we didn't want to worry Kanji's mother by saying anything about him mostly likely getting kidnapped soon… So we all turned to leave the store, yet we didn't even get a few steps before Yukiko stopped us.

"Huh…? It's Kanji-kun." Yukiko pointed to the other end of the street, and sure enough… Kanji was there, talking to the girl that was dressed as a guy… seriously, how did they not know that was a girl!? Still, when Yosuke noticed the pair on the other end of the street… he panicked…

"Wha- quick hide!" And the rest of us, not being very smart… followed him to behind a light pole…

"Yeah, this doesn't look suspicious at all!" I layered my voice with sarcasm. Chie knew that we were going to be seen easily… I think the girl knew that we were there to begin with…

"You're not fooling anyone, you know…" Yosuke was taking offence to our comments; it was obvious with the next sound that left his mouth.

"Shhh!" Yosuke made that sound a little loudly, so yeah, the girl knew we were there… "I can't hear what they're saying!"

I still couldn't even hear what they were saying; I was able to catch a few of the words, like: sure, after school, of course I'll be there. So I was lost, but I did hear what Kanji said next. "Did he say he was interested… He's a guy… and I'm a guy… But… he's interested in me…?"

I couldn't help myself with the next line that came out of my mouth. "I'M I THE ONLY PERSON THAT NOTICES THAT'S CHICK!?"

Everyone looked at me, including Kanji… "Fuck all kinds of duck…"

"What the hell are you pricks looking at!?" Kanji ran at us, everyone but me ran down the street… I really didn't wanna have to deal with this shit… Kanji stopped a few feet away from me. "Wait… don't I know you?"

"Sup Kanji?" I half smiled at him. "Thanks for the directions."

"You're the new kid?" Kanji raised an eyebrow at me. "The one I gave the directions too?"

"Yep," I pointed down the street. "Sorry, my friends and me were just passing by when I dropped something over here… s-so I better catch up with em… Bye!"

I quickly turned and walked away from Kanji, he just stood there staring at the back of my head. "He's weirder than when I first met him…"

* * *

South end of the Shopping District

"Where's Kreed!?" I heard Chie start to freak out from down the street… that was a good and a bad sign… this was not gonna end well. "I thought he was right behind us!"

"Poor Kreed…" Yosuke… go figure… "He will be missed, but he let us get away from the rage of Kanji…"

That's when I came around the corner and saw Chie trying to help back tears as Yosuke did a mocking pray stance. I walked up to Yosuke and put a hand on his shoulder and swept Yosuke's feet out from under him, sending Yosuke straight to the ground. "OW! Son of bitch! Who did- Kreed!? I thought Kanji was gonna kill you!"

"I told you before…" I leaned down and got in Yosuke's face. "I met him before."

I was about to help Yosuke up when I was tackled by something, which sent me to the ground myself. I looked at what attacked me, I was in fight or flight mode at that moment… until I looked up to see that it was just Chie holding on to me… I smiled slightly. "Th-thank g-god… I-I thou-thought that you we-were a goner!"

Everyone half smiled at as, I guess I had to half thank Yosuke for this, but I was still gonna kick his ass later! "I'm fine Chie. Though, Yosuke might lose might lose his ability to reproduce now… Anyway…" I didn't give Yosuke time to react before diving back into the topic that was most important at that moment. "What are we gonna do about Kanji?"

Yu gave me an evil smile… "Time for a stakeout!"

"Oh fuck all kinds of duck…"

* * *

_**Sorry it took so long to update! I've very freaking busy… god, it sucks, but I hope that this makes up for! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please send me your feedback!**_


	29. Chapter 29: Chase Scene and Food!

May 17, 2011

Forecast… Sunny in the morning and Cloudy later in the day

"Has the target arrived at school!?" Chie whispered to the five of us, which were crowded together… in a corner… in the open… by the school gate…

"There is no way he will not see us…" I shook my head as we waited for Kanji to leave the school building. "And if he doesn't, well then… fuck the world!"

"Shhh!" Yosuke was also into this idea, even though Yu seemed to agree with me. "And yes, Ma'am! Visual ID confirmed! Target arrived in-zone near the end of his mess break, with mother-issued rations in hand."

"Can't we just say lunch?" I sighed, this was kinda ridiculous… but I was trying to be serious, and have some fun… we didn't all hangout very much, so this was a good chance to try to.

"Would you be quiet!?" Yosuke was definitely getting mad now. "Current status: In the bathroom, fixing his hair. The target was acting nervous. I left my position before he had a chance to pick on me!"

I face-palmed, Yosuke was a really idiot! Before I had a chance to tell him that… Yukiko spoke up. "I wonder what kind of plans they made… It didn't seem like he knew that boy very well."

"Well," Chie tilted her head and scratched her head. "I think there's something more subtle- Oh, he's here!"

Yosuke and Chie tried to move closer to the wall. "Ow! Yosuke watch my foot!" We finally settled down as Kanji came out of the school gates and looked around… he didn't see us… what. The. Fuck!? How did he not see us! It was impossible not too! You know what, screw it… everyone is insane! End of story… lesion learned good bye…

Sorry about that… anyway, as we stood there, I noticed that Kanji seemed a bit nervous the whole time, especially when the cross-dressing girl started to walk up to him. And of course… she didn't seem to notice us either, I couldn't really hear anything that they were talking about, because… pain shot through my foot as Yosuke again stepped on my foot! "Son of a- Yosuke! Stop moving!"

"Be quiet!"

"I'll be quiet when you stop stepping on my freaking foot!" The two started to walk away and the moment they were out of hearing range… I pushed Yosuke away and started to hop up and down holding my foot. "God damn! What do you keep in there, bricks!?"

I kept hoping for a moment until Chie put her hand on my shoulder. I settled back down, then the serious conversation. Yosuke started it, surprisingly enough… with an almost insulting comment. "Wh-what in the world was that…?"

"Anyway!" Chie was starting to freak out as the two started to get out of the line of sight. We need to split into two teams, and fast. Otherwise, we would lose them, but the only problem was… we didn't really… pick the teams to begin with so we had no idea how to split it… which could have been a problem… "We gotta hurry after them, or we'll lose them!" Yosuke also knew that we need to split, but again… we had no idea how to do it.

"Okay… Then let's split up into two groups. One team will follow Kanji, and the other will stake out the shop."

"R-roger that!" Chie and Yosuke we kinda flipping out for no reason here, it was a small enough town that we could easily find them again. "How should we spilt the teams?"

We all looked at Yu, he just shrugged and pointed to Yukiko… didn't even say ANYTHING! That could really be annoying at times, but we just all nodded and Chie vocalized her opinion. "Sure… that's fine with me."

"Okay, Kreed can go with you guys." Yosuke did not just suggest that! There was no way in hell I was gonna let him go alone with my girlfriend! Even Chie glared at him. "Wh-what!?"

"Come you two come on!" I grabbed Yosuke's wrist and Chie's hand, we all ran after Kanji and the girl… This day was gonna be fucking weird as hell… I just didn't know how weird at the time.

* * *

Flood Plain

Chie and Yosuke were taking this whole thing a little too seriously… as per, every time there was something to hide behind, the hide behind it. I simply hid in plain sight; I walked slowly behind the two with my headphones in, only… I wasn't playing any music. We got to the flood plain and they hid behind a tree at that was on the side of the road, making it really obvious that they were following the pair…

I sighed as they did so, and just about punched Yosuke for how he was hiding behind my girlfriend. "Dude back off a bit…"

"S-sorry!" Yosuke held his hands up in defense, but I didn't punch him. Chie was so focused that she didn't even notice it.

"Man, this is weird…"

"Yeah…" Yosuke sighed as he still tried to hide behind the tree. "We definitely stand out."

"No, I mean THEM!" Chie seemed confused, well I guess I was the only one who wasn't confused about the girl's gender… "I get this weird feeling about them…"

"Weird? What about them's weird?"

"Umm…" Yep, this was terrible. "I don't know how to put it… Maybe it's just my imagination…"

She was about to continue on another speal, until all three of us heard a low sound eminatting from my stomach. All three of us stopped… Yosuke raised an eyebrow at me. "Dude, what was that?"

"I-I, uh… forgot to eat lunch today…" I rubbed the back of my neck in embarrassment. In truth… I could not find the damned cafeteria! No matter how hard I looked, it was like it was mocking me! "So, I like really freaking hungry."

"Really!?" Yosuke started to raise his voice… we had completely forgotten why we were there for that time. Me and Yosuke started to argue until we heard Chie next to us.

"Hello!" I looked down, and I face-palmed… she was on her phone, but with who… I had no idea. "Yes, I would like the steak bowl…" WHAT!? I stopped and almost took the phone out of her hand. "Actually make that three, no four!"

"Why are you ordering so much food!?" Yosuke was shocked at this. "I don't want anything!"

"This isn't for you!" Chie pointed at Yosuke. "It's for me and Kreed!"

"Please tell me it's Aiya's…"

"It is."

"YES!" That yes, was the biggest mistake I made that whole month, at least on a certain scale… still, we uh… kinda let Kanji hear us at that moment. "Wait how are they gonna find us?"

"I don't know…" Chie finished that sentence and then we heard it… someone cleared their throat next to us… We all froze and turned to meet the glare of one ticked off Kanji Tatsumi… Chie and Yosuke gulped, I waved awkwardly.

"H-hi Kanji…" I started to rub the back of my neck. Boy our cover didn't last very long… there was no way in hell that this was gonna end well for us… and if it did, I would pray to god for the next week!

"The hell are you three doing…?" Kanji looked and sounded pissed… I wasn't too worried about him killing us, but I was worried about him beating the crap out of us… Yosuke started to freak out and panic! I wish he would have thought something better to say…

"Oh, well, you see…" I turned to Yosuke, because, he seemed like he had a plan… boy was I wrong. "We're… We're just two crazy lovebirds and their friends!"

"WHAT!?" I was ready to kill Yosuke at that moment! The world would feel Yosuke's pain as I made it impossible for him to reproduce. "Yosuke… run!"

"Whaddya mean bird!?" Chie was pissed too, which was a good thing, but… it was only about him calling her a bird… That worried me, just a little bit.

"Play along, birdbrain!"

"No, this is bull crap!" I was furious at him for this! "This is the last straw!"

"Didn't I see you guys yesterday…?" Kanji started to walk towards us… I took a few steps back with Yosuke and Chie.

"A-ahahahaha…! C-c'mon, it just so happened that we were walking behind you guys." I cut Yosuke off.

"You are done talking!" I yelled at him, I was five seconds from beating the life out of him. "You are causing more trouble than you are worth!"

"Um, look, we weren't planning on getting in you guys' way, and there's nothing strange about it either…" Both me and Yosuke turned to Chie, this was not her finest hour in life… it wasn't for any of us. Kanji suddenly got all flustered because of Chie's comment.

"S-strange…!?" I knew we were screwed…

"Why can't you keep your big mouth shut!?" I slapped Yosuke on the back of his head for that comment.

"Why can't you!?" With that, all of us ran for it! We didn't stop to look. "This is all your fault you know!"

"W-wait, damnit!" Kanji began the chance after us. As we ran down the street we heard Kanji yell after us. "This ain't what you think! Y-you got it all wrong! Hey! Are you listening, damnit!? It seriously ain't like that!"

We kept running until we made our way back through the shopping district. I was worried what would happen if we stopped running and Kanji was able to catch us… so… we didn't stop, in fact, we made our way, so how, back to Kanji's house… Yukiko and Yu saw all of us running back. "What is going on!?"

"Sorry we brought trouble!" Yosuke yelled as we passed their hiding spot!

"Wait, I said wait up! You are dead, you are all so frigging dead!" Kanji just wouldn't give up the chase, I could have sworn at one point, someone took a picture of us, but I was too busy running for it!

"Ah crap! He's gonna get us all at this rate!" Yosuke and all of us were kinda freaking out. "Hey Chie time for you to shake him off our tale!"

"Why me!?"

"Why my girlfriend!?" My and Chie both did not like that idea one bit. Yet Yosuke knew the way to get Chie to do something.

"You the line in the movies?" Crap… I knew this wasn't going to end well… "You keep going and I'll handle this guy!? Well now's your chance to say it!"

"Well you gotta point there…" I face-palmed as we ran for it, I did not like were this was going!

"Hey Yosuke, you know the line from the internet meme!?" I ran next to Yosuke as we were running. "The about the zombie version of the end of the world!? Your my best friend, but when the zombies come, I'm tripping your ass! Don't make me use it now!"

Yu yelled at us, that's when he noticed Kanji still running after us. "Just don't stop running!" We kept running form Kanji was still yelling at us still, I was trying not to focus on that.

"I said to stop running from me!" I didn't surprise that Kanji was still on our asses. Yet, what surprised me most was when a blue haired girl in a uniform for a restaurant rode up next to us on a moped with a box on the back of the thing that said Aiya's. "Huh!? What the hell!?"

"I got your order here." The girl was as calm as if this was a normal day! What the fuck was wrong with this town… Yosuke and me both nearly fell over when we saw her, this was ridiculous! But kinda awesome! "four steak bowls"

"What the fuck!? We didn't even tell you where we were!" I didn't think she would find us at all! But ya know, some people are just that good!

"Your total is thirty-two thousand yen." How was this normal!? You know what, I gave up at that moment, there was no way in hell logic won the battle today… so STFUGTFO logic! The girl grabbed a tray with four bowls on it. So again, logic, get the fuck out of here!

"This is just weird!" Yosuke was complaining about this, but I gave up.

"Hey Chie," I pocked her shoulder as we kept running. "Here's my half."

"Thanks!" Chie reached in her pocket and looked back at the girl. "Sorry, you got any change?"

"You're really gonna do this!?" Yosuke was still flipping out about the whole ordeal, but and again, logic had left the building.

"Why not, I'm still hungry." I shrugged at Yosuke as Yukiko spoke up behind us.

"Chie, here's one hundred yen." Yukiko pulled out her purse and held a coin out to Chie. Yosuke was still pissed at the moment.

"Save it for later!"

"And when you're done…" The girl gave Chie the tray and started to drive faster. "Just leave the bowls."

"This is awesome!" I rubbed my hands together not wanting to wait for my meal! "I can't wait to eat!"

"Where the hell do we leave to bowls!?" Yosuke yelled at the girl as she drove ahead of us and disappeared around a corner.

* * *

I had no idea where we were, but we were in an underpass, me and Chie were already on our second bowls while everyone else was trying to catch their breath. Yosuke was amazed just to be alive. "I can't believe we really ditched that guy. It was close."

"Chie, Kreed?" Yukiko turned to us as we were just about to shovel the food into our mouths! "Is it good?"

"Hell yes!" I started to shovel the food down my throat as Chie took it a little slower.

"Yeah, it is." Of course that could be because she was talking at that moment. "It's delicious!"

"Man this sucks!" Yosuke started back on the topic that we needed to be on at that exact moment… Kanji and the Midnight Channel… "We totally failed on our first mission!"

"I thought… thaf the fursf mifoin…" I tried to talk when food was still in my mouth, but I quickly swallowed it. "Sorry, I thought that the first mission was rescuing Yukiko?"

"He's gotta point…" Yu shrugged his shoulders at Yosuke.

"We might as well give up…" Yosuke started to walk away. Yet, Yukiko pulled the ultimate trump card on him, at least it should have been… the guilt card.

"But, then what will happen to Kanji?" Yosuke stopped walking, but his demeanor didn't change at all.

"That guys' gonna be fine on his own." He looked back for a moment before tilting his head and closing his eyes. "He won't let anyone take him down without a fight."

"Let's still keep an eye on him, just a bit longer." Yu started to talk a bit, which scared me. But I was eating with my girlfriend, so I didn't give a damn.

"Alright sure, but we are DONE for today!" Yosuke sighed as he walked away for real. At that moment me and Chie finished out bowls and Chie had a brilliant question.

"Hey guys?" I looked at her for the moment. "Where do you think I should leave the bowls?"

I shrugged, but one thing was for sure as I heard a slight rumble in the distance… the storm was coming…

* * *

Time Change: After School to Evening

Just before Midnight

"Dude I do not have time for this!" I was arguing with Will, apparently he did some digging and found the fucking connection to Mrs. Yamano and the damned Midnight Channel! "It's almost Midnight! I need to sleep!"

"But you need to hear this!" Will was trying to show me his phone as I tried to push the bastard out of my room. The dude was like a freaking brick wall! "That announcer who died a while ago was on the Midnight Channel and the girl who died after that! So was Yukiko!"

"Yeah, I know!" I stopped, well I just dropped the fucking ball…

"You what!?" He didn't get any further in his question as Em slipped into my room and was on my couch when the TV suddenly came on.

"WHAT THE FUCK!?" I pointed at Will and Em, it was Midnight, they needed to leave my room NOW! "Em how did you get in here! Know what!? I don't care, get out please!"

"_**Good evening darlings!**_" That was when I stopped… oh, god no! The screen was clear, Kanji had been kidnapped! Yet before I could say anything again, I stopped at the voice and Kanji, well his shadow in… WHAT THE FUCK!? HIS SHADOW WAS IN NOTHING MORE THAN A FUCKING TOWEL! "_**Today we are going to transcend the sexes in a place for those seeking the most subliminal love there is, my sweets, I will lead you on this journey, I am Kanji Tatsumi, darlings! I am so hot, I am on fire! You know I gotta smoking body, what should I do with it, my blood is boiling, it makes me wanna grove, and shake my thing! Here I go!**_"

I counted my blessings that this one ended quickly… but again, the damn image changed, only this time, I saw that the person was a female and she had a guitar in her hands. Then the TV shut off… All three of us just stood there with our jaws dropped, that was the most fucked up thing we had ever seen… that's when my phone went off. I looked at it, and was surprised to see that Yu was calling me. "Hey Yu, did you see that…"

"_Yep._"

"So then you saw…?"

"_All of it._" There was a slight pause before Yu spoke again. "_You wanna copy?_"

"Good bye!" I flipped the phone closed and flopped on my bed, I didn't eve care that Will and Em were still in my room. "Good night, that was disturbing, I'm gonna sleep it off!"

* * *

_**This, this is my absolute favorite part of the animation, so yes, I used the anime of Persona 4 for the chase scene…so yes, it is a pretty good anime! Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed and please send me your feed back.**_


	30. Chapter 30: Artifical Life Form

May 17, 2011

Forecast… Sunny

"Em!" was standing by the front door of the house waiting for my sister, who was taking for freaking ever! "Hurry up or you'll be late!"

"I'm coming calm the he- I mean, calm down Brother!" I sighed, for her to cuss like that was rare, but she did do it, usually cussing someone out though, and then storming off. But again… it was rare, I've only seen it twice in the last four years. She came around the corner of the hallway and stopped when she saw me, Will left early for a job interview somewhere… I think it was the hospital… I can't really remember "Um, about what we saw last night…?"

"We never speak of it to anyone!" I pointed in Em's face, she just nodded quickly, yet I was going to break my promise very quickly! I was part of the investigation team. "Unless you in to that kinda stuff."

I spoke those last words randomly, quickly, and without hestitation. Why did I do that you ask? Because it made Em get so fucking flustered that it was funny. "Wh- huh? Broth- Why wou- I don't… who wou- n-never mind…"

I smiled evilly as I walked out of that house, but that day was not going to be fun, I just didn't know it yet… Nor, did I know who would be the cause of that or that he was following me closely… hidden perfectly in plain sight… I never saw it coming…

* * *

Time Change: Early Morning to After School

Yosuke sighed loudly, and it was pretty damned obvious why Kanji's shadow… I, um, don't think that Yosuke, Yu, and me where really up to just letting this one, ya know, solve itself… Okay, I was fucking scared about what I would see in that damned bath house! Ya don't need to rub salt on the wound… GOD! Anyway, so Yosuke was actually doing a good job leading these conversations nowadays… "Given the pattern so far, Kanji's already inside the TV…"

"And a copy of it in Yu's room," I lightly punched me in the shoulder for that one. "Okay, okay… he's watched it like five times."

For that, Yu slapped me on the back of my head. "Not cool!"

"But it's funny!" I smiled a moment before looking back to Yosuke. "Okay, continue with your ranting."

"I wonder what the Midnight Channel really is…" Yukiko actually spoke up, this was a rarity, well, not really… ya know what; forget I said that… it's been a long night. Chie responded to Yukiko's question first, with an explanation that brought back the memory of the first I saw it.

"At first, I thought it was one of those 'paranormal' things, but when I gave it a try… It was real." Chie started to say, and we started to recap what we knew at that moment, but we needed to. I personally believe that it strengthen our bond and will to save Kanji… Even if we see… un speakable… unforgettable things. "Turns out it's actually connected to another world…"

"If there's a rumor going around, that means a bunch of people are watching it." Yosuke continued where Chie left off. We all nodded, we believed that we were on to something with this!

"How did the rumor go…? If you stare into a turned-off TV on a rainy night…" Yukiko started to think outloud, but I decided to finish the thougt.

"And you'll see your soulmate on the screen," I sighed loudly and leaned my head back in my chair, yes, again… they were surrounding MY chair! God. "But it's not your soulmate, it's the next person to be thrown into the TV…"

"Yeah, but, no one in their right mind would try something that ridiculous, don'tcha think? Unless someone urged them to." Yosuke glared at Chie as he said this, after all, that's who got us to watch the Midnight Channel the first time… "But if you actually try, it does work. And not just once. If this rumor spreads and everyone starts watching the Midnight Channel…"

"It could cause a hug panic…" Chie was able to catch on to what we were getting at… this was a big deal that we fixed it and fixed it fast!

"If Teddie is right, the missing people themselves create the stuff we see. So it's not random." I nodded at Yosuke… He was right about that, it seemed like every place that appeared had something to do with the person's hidden feelings. "It's specifically related to whoever goes missing."

Chie sighed loudly as the thoughts started to fly, not that she didn't understand what was going on there, just it was something that was easy to catch on to, which is why I was surprised that no one went to the cops about this in our class, after all… we always had these talks in the FUCKING CLASS ROOM, but I digress. "Yukiko had a show too, but she doesn't remember doing anything like that."

"Um, this might be a little off subject, but… The culprit is probably watching the shows that come on… right?" I snapped my neck at Yukiko, I never really thought of it that way! It actually really surprised me that the thought never crossed my mind.

"No doubt. He's probably sitting back and enjoying- Wait a sec…" Chie's face, slowly grew redder and redder with rage as the thought sunk into her head.

"Well this can't be good…" I sighed, I got a long greatly with Chie, but she could have anger issues sometimes…

"I bet he IS enjoying it! He's probably laughing his head off watching the 'show' that comes on after he throws people into the TV!"

"Ahhh, I get it. Yeah, it's definitely possible. Ugh… Now when I think of the killer, I get this image of a total sicko!" Yosuke suddenly started to talk with a fake accent that was really shitty. "'I wanna see everything about you, Yuki-chan!'"

"Urgh, ugh, ugh! Wait, so if people saw Yukiko's show, do you think were watching what happened to me too!?" When Chie got to that part, I knew the killer was a dead man. "Oh, that is IT! That killer is dead meat! I'm gonna leave footprints all over his face! Guys! First, we save Kanji! Then, we crush the killer! Finally, we crush the killer and send him to hell! Got it!?"

Yukiko started to giggle at Chie's "mess up…" "Ch-Chie, those last two were the same thing…"

"Uh… I know…" Chie groaned at her best friend as she started up one of her laughing fits, I started to giggle a bit as well.

"The worst part…" Everyone turned to me as I smiled up at everyone. I clapped my hands together and quickly spread them out. "That's an actual threat from Chie!"

* * *

Inside the TV world

We entered a few minutes again and Yosuke was talking to Ted about something, but I was too unfocused, I had the strange feeling ever since the morning, but I didn't pursue it. Though it seemed like Chie had noticed how I was acting, how do I know? She walked up to me and grabbed my hand. "You okay?"

"I'm fine, just a little worried…" I sighed and squeezed on her hand a bit, she in turn did the same. I know it sounds like it would hurt, but in reality… it was comforting, the tighter you hold, the harder it was to let go or lose your grip. "Every time I come back in here, I feel weird, like I should know something about it, but every time I pursue the thought, all I find is some memory holes, its nothing major, just a few seconds lost, but still… Plus, now add on the fact that I gotta worry about Kanji, and please for the love of god tell me for the love God tell me you saw the image change!"

"Actually this time, I did…" Chie sighed and leaned a little closer to me, I wasn't much tall than her, but still she moved closer until her shoulder was against my arm. I knew she was trying to comfort me, but I was also trying to comfort her. Before we could pursue our conversation any more, I finally heard Yosuke and Teddie talking in the background.

"What!?" I could hear Teddie whining a bit as Yosuke tried to question the bear. "Are you saying that you really have no idea where Kanji Tatsumi is?"

"No, I can smell that somebody new is here…" The poor guy… animal… bear… mascot thing, he sounded really distressed over the whole ordeal. Yosuke, of course, just wanted the results, that it seemed like we weren't going to get anytime soon.

"Well why can't you?"

"I can only imagine its bear-cause I got so much on my mind." Okay, was he depressed or trying to make jokes! "Like: where do I come from? Who am I? These questions are tearing me up inside!"

"Weird since your insides are made of nothing but air." I sighed and finally turned back towards everyone.

"So what are we gonna do now? Not like we can just walk in a random direction and know where we're going." Everyone nodded, we needed this bear to help us find our way around the TV world, or else more bodies would start to appear… and we were not gonna let that happen!

"Well we could just call it quits for this one!" Yosuke half assed laughed, he was trying to get out of this, but I could understand how he felt… this was going to be disturbing…

"Quitting is not an option!" Chie was kinda pissed at Yosuke for saying that, but Yu, raised his hand and grabbed his chin.

"Oh, okay." I face palmed, this was kinda ridiculous that we were fighting over this…

"Hey! We gotta stick together!"

"Hey, I know!" Teddie spoke up again, I was hoping for good news with this, like save Kanji that day good news! "If I understood him a bit more, then I have no doubt that I would be able to sniff him out!"

"Really…?" I raised an eyebrow at our beary weird friend. "We can't just give you something of his and you turn into a blood hound?"

"Nope!"

"Fan-fucking-tastic!"

* * *

Tatsumi Textiles

"I'm sorry but, he hasn't been here since yesterday." Yes we were again in front of Mrs. Tatsumi in Tatsumi Textiles, asking about her son… Kanji Tatsumi… but we weren't getting very far; I was about ready to call it quits for the day to be honest… "I told the police about it. I'm concerned, because it's been so dangerous lately."

"I understand Ma'am." Yukiko slightly bowed to the older woman… we had literally gotten nowhere, only that had gotten was stuff that we already knew, and that only served to have Ted tell us the he lost the sent for a moment… which was weird because he had a nose like a fucking blood hound!

"Thank you." It really didn't surprise me… what his mother was saying, I still thought that Kanji was a nice guy… even after running from him for my life! "It's normal for him to leave without saying a word, but he's always come home before."

"Huh, who knew?" I slowly raised my hand as the words left Chie's mouth. "I would have thought he would be out fighting till dawn almost every night."

"Not your best choice of words there Chie…" I put a hand on her shoulder and rubbed it a bit. "Especially in front of the guys mom…"

Yet, Mrs. Tatsumi just kinda giggled at us with a smile on her face. "It's okay, I admit he can be a little rough around the edges at times. Not too long ago he got into a fight with some biker kids."

"Hey, I heard about it!" Yosuke's interest had been peaked at that moment; I guess this was something he liked to talk about. It wasn't really, just that it was the rumor we over heard in class the other day. "He took on that inter gang and destroyed them, all of them!"

That's when Mrs. Tatsumi suddenly looked sad, so I did what I always do, I slapped Yosuke upside his head! "Yes that's right. Truth is it was particularly my fault… You see I hadn't for days because of the noise their bikes were making. When he found that out, it made him angry."

"So he beat up an entire biker gang to help out his mother?" Yu was starting to talk a bit more now, which was finally hitting me after yesterday, so I was a little worried about what was going on…

"Wow, now that is one aggressively devoted son!" Yosuke again sounded surprised by all of this.

"Told ya he wasn't so bad!" I pointed in Yosuke's face with a grand old smile on mine! Yet, that's when I also realized we weren't gonna get much out of Mrs. Tatsumi… so I turned back to her and bowed. "Thank you, I'm sorry if you took up your time…"

"Oh, it's not a problem at all." She smiled as we all left the building… god she was way too nice… but it wasn't a bad thing, she seemed like a good mother if you asked me…

"So now what…?" I sighed as we started to walk down the street, we got all the information that we already knew out of the person closest to Kanji… so we had almost ran out of options…

"I say we split up and look for people who could give us some clue about Kanji…" Yu made a good point with that one, it was something that important for us to cover more ground, and the sooner we got the info… the better!

"Okay!" Everyone nodded in agreement and we all headed in different directions.

* * *

Junes

I literally had run out of options of places to look for clues, so I decided to go back to the food court and wait for everybody to show up… I walked through the front doors of the mall and stopped cold in my tracks when I say the blue hair, blue over coat, and blue hat… the cross dressing girl that was with Kanji was hanging by the elevators, I had no idea if she was waiting for someone or not, but… I had no other options left! "Yo!" I waved to her as I walked up to the elevator and pressed the button.

"So our paths cross again… you and your friends were following me and Kanji, yes?" The girl got straight to the point when she wanted… but that damned fake voice! But, I was in trouble if I lied to her, she obviously knew I was there, so no since hiding it…

"Yeah, sorry about that…" The girl shook her head.

"It doesn't really matter…" Man she was shorter than Chie! But then again, so was Em, so it didn't come as a surprise to me what so ever… "Did you hear? It seems as though Kanji is hiding out somewhere."

"Yeah," I was keeping calm and going for the bare minimum of words that I could have used to not raise suspicions that I kinda knew where he was. "Hey… mind if I ask what you and Kanji were talking about yesterday?"

"Not at all," The girl smiled half-heartedly at me. "When we meet up all I did was say hi and ask him what he had been up to lately."

"So nothing big?"

"Yep, though thinking back, he was acting strange and not really like himself the whole time." Bingo! This is what I wanted to hear! This was what was gonna help Teddie find Kanji!

"Really?" I made it sound like I knew Kanji, which wasn't entirely a lie…

"Yeah, and it kept getting worse so I decided to call him out on it." Remember when I said straight forward… this is what I was talking about! "I said 'why are you acting so weird?' Then he got awkward and the color drained from his face."

"He seemed to care what other people thought of him…" I was rubbing the back of my neck now, that was something that you really couldn't tell from just talking with the guy, but when he yells at you… yeah, you run, you don't care what it seems like, you RUN!

"Can't judge a book by its cover I guess." The girl looked to the floor now, I was wondering what was up with Kanji and the elevator was taking so damned long! "Maybe he's struggling with something; it's quite possible that Kanji has some issues that we don't know about…"

That's when the doors finally opened up… "Well, thanks, sorry for wasting your time…"

"No, it was no trouble, in fact it was quiet helpful." I raised an eyebrow at the girl as the elevator doors closed, but I quickly grabbed my phone and punched in the numbers for my friends and texted them…

_I got it! Heading to Ted's now! See ya there!_

* * *

Shadow World… Again

I was sitting on the railing next to the entrance, I already told Ted what I had found so he was trying to concentrate on finding Kanji when everyone else came through the entrance TV's. "Sup?"

"Did you really find what we need?" That was the first words out of Yukiko's mouth. I smiled evilly at her and nodded and pointed to Teddie who was sniffing around the air. Yosuke sighed when he saw this.

"That bear acts like some sort of freaky dog." I jumped off of my seat and walked over to everyone. "So how did you find the info we needed?"

"I found Kanji's 'friend.'" As the words left my mouth, Yosuke gave me a weird look. "The person who was with him yesterday, moron!"

Before we could continue to argue or anything, Teddie pointed in a single direction. And put on his usual smile as he did so. I knew that meant good things for us, there was no way that weren't gonna find Kanji now. I had no doubt that we would save him! I just didn't know about our extra little guest who followed us into the TV… "I believe I have bearfectly captured Kanji's sent and I am ready to hit the trail!" Teddie gained a very… um weird ass face which seemed partly determined… part constipated… "Okay noise! Don't fail me now! He's over that way! Okay people… follow the bear!"

"Hey!" Teddie went off running in the direction he had pointed and he wasn't stopping for anything. Which was good he was determined, but bad that he was leaving us in the dust… we all and to start running after the damned bear! But, we had Kanji's trail of breadcrumbs and we were gonna follow no matter where it went!

* * *

Bathhouse

"Good work everyone! Let's go home!" I started to walk back to the entrance of the TV world when Chie grabbed my collar to keep me from walking away. I was desperately trying to get out of her grip… I only just say the place and I wanted out! "But I wanna go home, Chie!"

"Not until we save Kanji!" Chie stomped her foot and pulled me towards the bathhouse. That's when everyone realized that this place sucked, and started to complain. "This fog doesn't feel like it normally does…"

"My glasses are foggy…" Yukiko pulled her glasses off of her face to try and wide the fog off.

"I wouldn't do that, if you do that it will just make it worse next time they fog up…" I sighed as mine started to fog up as well.

"Man are glasses always this much of a pain?" Chie half whined next to me, I could see that her glasses were starting to fog up as well, I that it wasn't that big of a deal so I just shrugged. Now it was Yosuke's turn to complain…

"Man it's hot, I'm soaked." He pulled at the collar of his t-shirt as he complained about the fog, which was actually steam to let yeah know! "This place feels just like a-"

Yosuke was cut off by a PA system, which I didn't know that this place would have one… god this place was fucking weird, I still try and avoid it… Anyway, what came over the PA system was the sound of saxophone playing smooth Jazz and… and… the voices… "_**Well hello there pussycat!**_"

"_**You have an amazing set of abs!**_"

"_**There's nothing to be afraid of, just relax!**_" The moment that the voices stopped talking, Yu, Yosuke, and me all suddenly got a little creeped out, Yosuke more than anyone… Chie seemed to get what this place was implying, but Yukiko and Teddie, they just seemed lost…

Yosuke was the first one to flip out a little… "Wait hold on a second, let's think about this!"

Yu was next. "There definitely some risk involved…"

I sighed, this was not a place I wanted to spend my day in, but it was also the only way that we were gonna save Kanji! So we had to do it! For him! I just wish he came up with a field of flowers… not a sauna… "I guess we got no real choice, hey Ted? Is Kanji really here?"

"Never underestimate the sensor that lives in my noise!" The bear seemed certain, so we really didn't have a choice in the matter, we had to buckle down and save the poor sap… Chie was the next to seem to hate the idea… smiled as an idea came to mind, but I wasn't really gonna pursue it… What!? I'm a teenage boy and I have a girlfriend, how I kinda… nevermind… you'll have to wait to hear that part, but… it'd be weird if I didn't have those thoughts every now and then, but I wasn't gonna push her to do something she didn't want to do.

"Well, looks like we gotta in there then." The moment the words left Chie's mouth, Yosuke started to flip out again. Why this was such a big deal for him? I think Yosuke was homophobic, after all you can't fix stupid!

"Yeah, I don't know if I'm totally on board with this!" Yosuke was almost screaming out his protest to saving Kanji… baby. As he continued to rant me and Chie both just crossed our arms at him. "I might see things, things I don't wanna see! Or I might lose something I don't wanna lose!"

Chie finally walked over to Yosuke and grabbed him by the ear and started to pull him towards the bathhouse. "Shut up, we're going in!"

I started to follow them when I heard Yu whisper something… "I could use a bite to eat…" I face palmed at him… I would have dragged him as well, I didn't want to be here, but I wouldn't keep complaining about it… but it seemed like Yukiko had him handled…

"Come on we have to go!"

"Yeah, you're right." With that I nodded and we started walking…

* * *

Floor 2

The first floor didn't have many shadows on it, but the moment we got to the second floor, we encountered a weird ass cop shadow… It was fat, had a whistle in its mouth and a hole in its stomach with a key floating in it… there were only four of them, but me and Yukiko both looked at Chie, Yu, and Yosuke, they just nodded to us. I grinned evilly as I pulled out my baseball bat, Yukiko got out a fan, ya know… one of those ceremonial ones…

Anyway… I turned to Yukiko and smiled even brighter, she just nodded as we both waited for the Shadows to notice us… when they did, they started to charge us. I got into a batting stance and felt the energy build up as I got ready to summon my Persona for the first time ever. That's when I heard the voice in my head. _I am thou, and thou art I!_ I saw the blue tarot card appear before me and I swung my bat so hard that I busted through the card and I spun on one foot in a three sixty. That's when it appeared in front of me, my Persona… the Puppeteer! It still looked the same as it brandished a scythe in its gaint hand and waited for the moment I wanted it to do something. "Cleave!" I swung my bat in a downward motion, the Persona followed in suit, only stabbing one of the shadows in the head! It the proceed to pull the scythe out of the Shadow's head and stab another with the pointed back end of the scythe and slam it into a wall! The thing was freaking brutal!

"Agi!" Yukiko summoned her card and slashed it with her fan producing her Persona, Konohana-Sakuya! It looked the same as the last time as well, only instead of attacking physically, it summoned some fire and started to burn the shadows to death and it worked… the Shadows were weak, but we definitely were amazed by our Personas!

"That was AWESOME!" I fist pumped as my Persona slowly vanished, it was basically dismissed, but still… it worked! I thought that was amazing, but still, it felt weird but amazing all at the same time! "Oh my God! I flipping out here!"

Chie smiled as she walked over to me, I couldn't really help my next motion but I didn't get kicked in the balls for it, so it works! I quickly hugged Chie and spun around in a three-sixty, I was so excited that I really didn't have that much control, but Chie laughed it off. Yosuke sighed as him, Yu, and Ted walked past us. "Dude, calm down… Besides, it's hot, this sucks! I can't believe that we're really doing this! Hey, I know we should split up! Chie, Yukiko, and Kreed can go in full force! Then we can go back outside and guard the entrance!"

Yu actually agreed with him! "Good plan!"

Chie suddenly got in their faces and started to yell, not a surprise! "Man up! If you think I'm gonna let you guys ditch us, you got another thing coming! We're here to save Kanji because we're the only ones who can help him! Now try and keep that in mind okay!"

"You're right." Wait… did Yosuke just agree with Chie!? Oh god, logic left the building again… that's two days in a row! "He's not the complete thug that I thought he was. So I guess we should just nut a bit and see if we can help."

"Told ya!" I waved as I ran up next to Chie, the next door we opened led to the stairs and the third floor, it was just one big freaking room behind a curtain, but… Kanji's shadow was definitely there… in the towel… We all kinda just stopped as we peered around the curtain… god this was weird!

"**My, my. Thank you for noticing me!**" The shadow was flexing, as if trying to gain someone's attention."**I am Kanji!**"

That's when three of us snapped… Yosuke, Yu, and me all summoned our Personas, and Chie, Yukiko, and Ted stopped up from attacking the Shadow. Chie kinda yelled at us. "Alright, alright! Wait a sec!"

"Screw that! I say we just get this done!" Yosuke was flipping out and I just backed away from for a moment. "I don't know if I can take another second in this freaky place!"

"**Well, well, well!**" Now the Shadow was reaching new highs on the What the Fuck meter… "**You're in line for the Tropical Paradise Suspicion! All this steam is making my blood start to pump!**"

Then Chie summoned Tomoe… "Come on Chie not you too!" Teddie was now trying to get Chie to calm down.

"Sorry but this guy really bugs…"

"Yeah, just a bit." Me and Yu agreed with Chie…

"**Alright sweeties since everyone here is all hot and bothered.**" NO, NO, NO! NONE OF US WERE, WE WERE PISSED DAMNIT! "**Let's go to our next segment!**" That's when the next sign appeared, and we dismissed our Personas… it was weird, and I just looked away not wanting to read it… Yu was the first one to talk.

"This could get a little awkward…" I sighed and turned to him. "And in more ways than one…"

"And it isn't alreay?"

"Good point…"

"Oh man, when we were trying to save Yukiko it was just like this too." Chie made a valid point, but Yukiko started to flip out now.

"No it wasn't! It wasn't anything like this!" Then she turned away from everyone and got a little depressed.

"Man who's creating these weird ass images anyway?" Yosuke was really questioning the title screens, I thought that we were avoid that… but whatever… "The guy who's throwing people in here?"

"**I really do love grove on with ya, but I must continue my search for the BUMP AND GRIND!**" Now that was just fucked up… he could have used any single words, but he used those ones! WHY!? "**Follow if you dare!**"

We started to run after the Shadow when we heard someone fall behind us and crash into the ground. We all turned around to see that the curtain had fallen down and someone was rolled up in it… "H-help! I can't see anything!"

"Is that Will-kun!?" Yukiko was the first one to speak that thought, but I was gonna kill Will the moment we got him out of that curtain… which wasn't long… I was standing there tapping my foot at him. "Will-kun, why, or rather, how did you end up here?"

"That's actually a good question…" Yu pushed his glasses up on his noise further, which actually made him look threating… I even backed away a little. "How did you end up here Will-san?"

"I huh…" Will looked away from us… I got up in his face at this point… He backed away from us a bit. "I was following Kreed around because I-I knew he wasn't telling me everything about the Midnight Channel that he knew! And I saw you guys jump through the TV… so I freaked out and kinda fell in… so I followed you guys some more…"

"Ted, how did you not smell him?" Chie looked, at our little mascot friend and asked the best question of the day. How the fuck did Teddie not smell Will enter the TV!?

"I was too focused on Kanji's sent!" We all just shrugged except Will, who just gave Ted a 'what the fuck' face.

"Look, Will…" I sighed as I turned back to him… "This world is dangerous… we need to get you back to… the… entrance…." I slowed my words down as I noticed something behind Will standing in the corner. It was a carbon copy of Will, only with a dark aura surrounding it… and the yellow eyes.

"**Please continue, this was getting interesting.**" Will froze has he heard his own voice and turned around to see his Shadow smiling evilly down at him. "**It's about time you noticed me!**"

"Wh-what!?" Will jumped to his feet and slowly backed away from the Shadow. It started to move closer to Will. "How is that possible!?"

"Shit!" I grabbed my bat and ran at the Shadow, I was ready to swing the bat as its fist collided with my stomach, sending me straight to the ground, Chie watched in horror as the Shadow kicked me all the way back to the group. "Fuck! That's a strong fucker!"

"What is that!?" I pointed at the Shadow, we had to explain what was going on, but I really couldn't move at that moment. Chie ran to my side and made sure I was okay.

"**Don't you know… I'm you, and you're me!**" The Shadow laughed evilly as it began the process of slowly provoking its victim. "**Why do you hang out with these things? Humans are such selfish and stupid creatures… Not a single one of them wants to look at the truth! All humans should just die!**"

"Wh-what are you talking about!?" It was working a little too fast for Will, and I still could really move. "I don't have any idea what you're saying!"

"Will-kun!" Yukiko ran over to Will and tried to console him. Which really wasn't working very well, it was most likely going to end the same way… "Don't listen to him, he's just trying to provoke you!"

"**Did I say you could talk!?**" The Shadow was getting pissed at other people besides Will!? It didn't make much sense, but I slowly started to see what this Shadow represented… "**You are nothing but worthless trash! All of you are, you invite others in and say you'll be friends, but when it comes down to it… you'll just use the others as a step latter to reach your own selfish goals! No one cares anymore! They never will… that is why humans should just die and leave me alone! Hell, for all I care it could be the other way around and I still wouldn't give a shit! All of you can just die! Yet, if I mention these thoughts to anyone, suddenly I'm the monster! I'm just saying what you experienced… right, me?**" Will shook his head, I finally was able to stand up again and I wanted to stop the Shadow, but I guess this is what made everyone a better person for it… facing yourself is hard, but you feel better for it in the end.

"You… can't…" Will shook his head faster now, Yosuke tried to stop him.

"No, Will-san! Don't say it!"

"You can't be me! There is no way in hell that you are me!" The moment Will said those words… the Shadow started to laugh as its dark aura grew larger.

"**That's right, I'm not you anymore, and now I'm gonna make this world peaceful!**" The shockwave didn't knock me over this time, but it knocked Will flat on his ass. We looked at the Shadow in shock… it was so big that it had to bend over in the bathhouse just so it could stand. It looked like it was made from metal and bricks placed randomly all over the Shadow's form. Not only that, but you could see what looked like Will morphed into the chest of the Shadow, it had long arms with spikes coming out of the fist. "**I am a Shadow, the true self! I'll end the rule of human stupidity! Starting with you!**"

"You're already annoying!" I quickly summoned the Puppeteer back to my side as it spun its scythe at the Shadow. "So… just LIE DOWN AND DIE ALREADY!" The Puppeteer went flying at the Shadow, only to be batted away by one of the gain hands, which knocked me to the ground again. "Damnit!"

"Kreed!" Chie growled at the Shadow and summon Tomoe, she sent her warrior Persona at the shadow, only for it to be smashed against the ground. This knock Chie to the ground. Everyone summoned their Personas and got ready for the fight! Izangi swung its spear at the Shadow's stomach, for the spear to clang against metal and then the Persona to be open for the Shadow to swat it away. Jiyrara and Konaha-Sakuya used magic, but again, the Shadow didn't even budge, I wanted this fight to end quickly… So, again I sent out my Persona, only this time with a different tactic. It threw its scythe at the Shadow which grabbed the scythe and swung it as my Persona as it charged the Shadow with its coffin in hand and blocked the scythe.

It then punched the Shadow in the head, grabbed the Scythe and cut clean through the open neck… the two stayed like that for a moment or two until the Shadows head just slowly slid off its body. We all cheered for a moment, until… the Shadow started to laugh again. "**You thought it would be that easy!? Just shows you human stupidity is so great!**"

The Shadow started to run at Izangi and hugged it, the Shadow started to squeeze and slowly crush the Persona, and in turn, crushing Yu… I snapped, to tell you the truth… I sent the Puppeteer at the Shadow again, only this time, there was no nice card! It cut off the arm of the Shadow and swipped its legs out from under it, the Shadow landed on its back and my Persona stepped on its stomach and started to stab the thing in the chest at least fifty times and black liquid gushed out of the wound, the Shadow screamed in pain the whole time. Finally when it was done I dismissed my Persona and fell to my knees.

"Th-that was a short battle…" I smiled and started to fall backwards, only to be stopped by Chie holding me up. "Thanks…"

She wrapped her arms around me and smiled wryly. "I'm always here for you."

After a bit, Will and his Shadow stood up, the Shadow back to its original form. Will took a look around and saw his Shadow he shook his head and started to back away. "Don't you do Will!" I yelled at him, he was about to say it again. "Look, I get how you feel; people always have their own agenda that will never change! But you can trust your friends to take time off of that agenda to help you!"

"Will-kun," Yukiko put a hand on Will's shoulder.

"Everyone has a side like this hidden somewhere…" Yu half smiled at my friend, Will looked to the ground.

"You guys are right, I didn't want anyone to know that this thing was in me…" Will started to talk more than I have heard him say since he got to Inaba… "I liked being alone, it was comforting to me, but after a while, I wanted to try and get back out there. I learned that most of the world is full of hateful and evil people…"

The Shadow waited for Will to finish his speal as he did, we all watched him struggle with this… we all did when we first say our Shadow… "I wanted to try and make friends, but most of them pushed me aside when it was covenant for them, but, there are a few good people out there, they shouldn't be forgotten, no matter who they were… even if I met most of them here in Inaba… so I guess you were right… I'm you and you're me…"

The Shadow nodded at Will and what took its place didn't look very human. It had a wrapped up head that you could see one eye and the mouth. The back looked like it was made of cloth and metal with light bulbs jutting out of its back. The arms were long and had chains on them, the legs looked like they were made out of spare robot parts, and I heard Will whisper its name. "Golem…"

Will quickly collapsed to the ground. We all rushed to him. "Are you okay Will-kun!?"

"I'm good Yukiko, but I'm burning up…" We finally remembered that we were in a bathhouse with steam…

"Who votes we take a break today!" Yosuke quickly made a vote, and surprisingly, we all agreed to take a break. "Good, because… I CAN'T STAND THIS PLACE ANYMORE TODAY!"

* * *

_**I'm sorry it took so long, and yeah, I'm using the anime a bit more, sorry if you don't like it, but hell It's my story! If I wanted the sky to be orange, it will be orange, I don't want that. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, and Yes there is another OC Persona user now with another original Persona, just to let you know, it is of the Hermit Arcana. So hope to see you guys back here on Monday, please send me your feedback on the story or my OC's or Persona's, hell send me Persona ideas if you want! Thank you for reading!**_


	31. Chapter 31: Truth of a Shadow

_**Sorry I messed up the date in the last chapter or more…**_

* * *

May 19, 2011

Forecast… Sunny

Lunch

"Hey, everyone!" I quickly brought me head off my desk so fast, that I fell out of my chair when I heard the girl's voice yell at us.

"Damnit!" I quickly scrabbled to my feet and put my chair up, that was one of the most embarrassing moments that I have ever had, but still. "That scared the crap out of me!"

"They posted the test results!" The girl then ran out of the door way, I quickly stood up and stretched, we had another English lesson before this, so… I simply fell asleep again, I mean, I didn't need to pay attention to even pass that class… seriously, they were now learning the word duck… Anyway, Yu and Yosuke walked over to me, Yosuke looked like he was gonna die.

"Argh… The awful moment of truth…" Yu smiled as Yosuke's complains reached his ears, I just shrugged, I didn't even really try to pass the damn thing… "Oh well. Wanna check it out, Kreed?"

"If I must, and Yosuke." I smiled, I knew why Yosuke was freaking out and I was gonna use that to my advantage! "Study more and this won't kill you."

"HEY! I studied!" Me and Yu started to laugh loudly. "I did!"

"Right, we believe you." Yu was able to just get the words in before laughing again. Me and Yu started to ran as Yosuke began a short chase after as to the board where the grades were posted. When we stopped in front of the board I just yawned, but I noticed the Kou, Daiskue, Chie were at the board. "Let's see, Yosuke Hanamura… 69… Yu Narukami… 95"

"Go figure…" I walked next to Chie as she was still searching for her name… in the lowest scores… "Hey, how'd you do?"

"I haven't found it yet…" Chie was looking in the scores down in the 30's! I just shook my head and looked in the through all the scores, and smiled when I finally found her scores. I poked Chie on her shoulder and pointed her to her score of 77. I laughed as Chie's jaw dropped when she saw the number behind her name. Chie started to pump her arm with how happy she was, she actually passed with an okay score!

"Told ya that you could do it!" I put a hand on her shoulder, that's when I started to hear everyone whispering.

"Holy crap that kinda score… He even beat out Yukiko-chan's scores!"

"Did he even study!? I never saw him in the library."

"How did he get a perfect score!?"

"Yo, Kreed!" Daisuke slapped my shoulder at that moment which made me bend my knees for a moment… "Great job man!"

"What happened that's so great?" I was so freaking confused… but as I saw the glances at me, I started to put two and two together. "Don't tell me…"

Sure enough, there at the very top of the list was my name, and the number behind it… was 100! How was this even possible! I didn't want to do that well! Great! Yet, I would be lying if I didn't say that it was a pleasant surprise to have passed the test like that. "Well… I'll be damned… I did it…"

* * *

Time Change: Lunchtime to After School

Sauna Floor 5

"Wow, this place does really suck!" Will pulled his collar away from his neck as the sweat started to a cumulate around his neck… I laughed lightly as we kept walking, though he was right the heat sucked more than anything in this place. "So, remind me why we came back here?"

"To rescue Kanji Tatsumi from the same thing that happened to you." Will stopped from a moment, he made it seem like it was weird, we were just six people jumping into a TV to save someone from their hidden emotions. Nope, nothing weird about that! Anyway, Teddie had given Will his glasses the moment he hopped into the TV World this time, his glasses looked like aviator glasses and had an orange tint to them. We weren't really finding any shadows this time around, which was a scary thought, considering what happened last time. "Anyway! I still can't believe that I got a perfect score!"

"Did you even study?" Yu called back to me, yeah everyone in the group heard that I passed with a perfect, and Yukiko was the only one who seemed displeased by this, of course it could be because she had a 95.

"Only what I helped Chie with." I left my beanie back at the entrance of the TV World this time, so some, not much, but still some of my hair fell to start and cover the top part of my eyes, I could still see, but I hadn't gotten a hair cut in a few months so I was due to have it snipped soon. "And even that wasn't much."

"My score…" I heard Yukiko half moan next to Will, I was next to Chie the whole time. Chie looked half happy and half sad, happy for her and me, but a little sad for Yukiko. I smiled I was about to say something when a new type of Shadow came barreling down another hall and bashed its knee into my face! It hurt like a bitch, especially when I hit the hall, I couldn't really move and I was disoriented after the hit. Will pulled his weapon off of his back at this time. Will's weapon was a very heavy double sided Axe; don't ask me how he snuck that thing in here… There were three of these new Shadows, for them… think Hulk Hogan only three times as big… yep, that fucked up… I saw Chie looked back at me multiple times. It was obvious that she was scared now.

Will swung the axe with one hand and it stuck into the Shadow's leg, which it then grabbed Will and pulled him up without the Axe. Will smiled as the thing brought him to its face. "Hi, have you met my friend… the Golem?"

The Shadow actually stopped and looked like it was thinking if it met Will's Persona! Which gave him the chance to summon his tarot card at which he grabbed it and smashed it against the Shadow's face, making it realize what had just happened, it was about the throw Will to the ground when the Golem appeared with both hands around the things head. To put it simply, the strength of the Persona versus the Shadow… the Shadow was Hulk Hogan, while the Persona was the Hulk, as big and as pissed off as the Hulk could get! The Golem lifted the Shadow off of the ground, making it drop Will, who, when he hit the ground called out the attack command. "GOLEM! BASH!"

Will's Persona removed one hand off the Shadow's head and punched it square in the stomach so hard that the head of the Shadow forgot to leave with the body! Before the body disappeared it slammed into one more of the Shadows, destroying them both! As they busted throw the door we were heading for… The last Shadow looked at the Golem and actually tried to run away, only to be met with the sight of the Puppeteer's Coffin in its face. I smiled as I used the wall for support, blood slowly running down the side of my face. "Meet my friend, the Puppeteer… Puppeteer… Mudo!"

The coffin slowly opened as two red eyes peered at the Shadow, the spell's magic circle appeared before the Shadow and vanished, you think that it failed… nope, the Puppeteer did something different with that spell. Black wiggly hands came out of the coffin (think the hands for the Door to the Truth in Fullmetal Alchemist) and started to rap around the Shadow, the hands tugged once and the Shadow was sent flying into the coffin which shut on the poor creature. There was a sound of something being beaten and stabbed, then the black liquid that we had recognized that appeared when I Shadow was destroyed slowly leaked out of the coffin. After a few moments, I dismissed my Persona and fell to my knees again. Chie was the first one to my side. "Kreed! A-are you okay!"

I looked up to meet her eyes, she was so close to tears that I could see the tears start to build up in her eyes, but… Yukiko got one look at my wounds as I nodded to try and console Chie, Yukiko smiled.

"He'll be fine after one quick healing spell." Yukiko stood back away from us and held out her fan as her tarot card appeared before her again. "Come! Konohah-Sakuya!"

Yukiko's Persona appeared as she shattered the card, there was a bright light as the throbbing in my head stopped and I was able to stand on my feet again. "Let's hope that doesn't happen again, that hurt like a freaking bitch!"

"Hey look!" Yu pointed at the destroyed door. "The Shadows found the stairs!"

* * *

Outside of boss door

"He's in here isn't he…" Yu kinda complained, we were defiantly in the right place… how do we know? The fucking door said it… okay, well it said _Welcome to Tropical Paradise_, but that is beside the point! Me, Yu, Chie, and Yosuke knew that this was gonna get creepy…

"Yeah, there's no doubt about… he's here…" I wanted to back away from the door as fast as possible, but I didn't wanna leave someone to die in here… Will just tilted his head.

"Why does it say Tropical Paradise… we're in a sauna!?"

"It's the guy from the last Midnight Channel…"

"OH GOD NO!" I nodded, now Will understood why we were so hesitant…

"Okay, let's go in there and take him!" Chie was just trying to get us to go first and we knew it! Yukiko… didn't, but she would have agreed with her on this! But ya know, I was gonna make Yosuke open the door. "Okay listen, no matter what happens in there, we gotta stay focused on the mission. Which means we gotta rescue Kanji, and after we've rescued him, we gotta save him!"

Yukiko started to giggle and laughed a bit too, but I knew that she was being serious and joking. "Chie… th-thoughs last two things were the same!"

"Um, it was intentional." Chie looked back at Yukiko, who seemed surprised by this…

"Yeah Yukiko." I smiled for the moment. Until I looked at the door again…

"Let's do this!" I pointed straight into the air… then… We all just stood there for a while, just letting the steam rise into the air around us. Then Teddie caught on to what we were doing.

"Um…? Why aren't you opening the door?" All of us gave Teddie our best scared shitless faces. Then Yosuke replied with the same excuse he had given Chie yesterday.

"Well you see…" Chie started.

"Do we really have too…?" Yosuke bent over at his shoulders, probably to get his point across. "Sometimes you see things and they get seared into your brain forever and ever and ever…"

"He does have a point…" Yukiko was actually thinking about skipping out on this? I thought that Kanji was one of her friends! "What do you think Narukami, Kreed-kun?"

"Maybe some dinner first?" Yu was also using the same excuse as yesterday. I gulped hard when it was my turn.

"Maybe we can just eat here at the door?" I shrugged my shoulders. Chie suddenly got mad at us.

"Not until we find him!" Chie stomped her foot, Will was just standing next to Yukiko, trying not to laugh. I was gonna have to punch for this later! "It's about time the two of you grow a pair!"

"Not me?" I pointed at myself and Chie shook her head.

"You at least didn't need to be forced to come and save him!" I shrugged as she moved behind Yosuke and Yu. Then… she pushed them at the door! "Now go on!" Yu and Yosuke opened the door slowly, just in time for us to see Kanji pin his Shadow to the ground.

"I have heard enough out of you!" We just stood there watching for a moment as Kanji apparently didn't see us enter through the damned door! All of us in unison said the same thing.

"This is really awkward…" That was when Kanji turned around to see us… and it was much to his surprise…

"What are you guys doing here!?" Apparently he understood why we said that… Yu, Yosuke, Will, and me all answered his question…

"Well…" Yosuke.

"You see…" Yu.

"Came to…" Will.

"Rescue you…" Me… we really didn't sound like that's what we wanted to do… mainly because this was really awkward…

"Well ya sure as hell don't sound all that motivated!" He looked like he was gonna kill us… again… but then Kanji's Shadow pushed him off and jumped to his feet.

"I won't let you inter fear!" The Shadow was making this way worse than it should have been… good this was awkward… The moment he finished flexing, a clear liquid started to poor onto the floor all the way to where we were standing. It was I weird thing to try and stop us with… but even weirder when we figured out what it was…

"What the heck is this?" Chie started to walk forward until she lost her balance while getting ready to take another step. "Is this supposed to slow us dow- Ugh, egh he!"

"Yukiko grabbed Chie's wrist to keep her from falling, but it only served to bring Yukiko with her.

"Chie, are you okay?" I took a step to walk towards her, but I started to lose my balance too. I put my hand on the ground to keep myself from falling, that's… when I felt… the, um… the lubricant on the floor. "Oh, god no! This is freaking GROSS! Why the hell… No, no, WHO THE HELL CAME UP WITH THIS IDEA!"

"Why are you guys crawling on the floor?" I was hoping that Yosuke directed that question at the girls. That's when Yosuke figured out what was going on…

"Ew, its slime! This stuff is gross!" Chie started to complain about the lube that she was in… Then Yosuke and Yu stated their death wish!

"Narukami, you wouldn't happen to have a video camera would you!?" Yosuke looked like he had such high hopes, Yukiko looked like Yosuke was gonna be the next person to burn!

"Heh, no…"

"That isn't funny, ih!" Chie attempted to stand up again, but fell straight to her stomach. I looked at Will he was trying not to laugh to the point that I could hear the huffs of breath coming out of the sides of his mouth.

"I'm gonna kick the shit out of you…"

"I'd love to see you try!" That exact moment is when we heard Kanji and his Shadow start talking. Kanji was just getting off of the floor as he Shadow turned to him.

"You bastard!" Those were the first words out of Kanji's mouth, go figure!

"Honey why don't you just drop the spheroid." The Shadow was really getting cocky at this point, four of us could still summon our Persona's without falling flat on our faces, and we would sure as hell use that to our advantage! "Isn't time for you to tell people how you truly feel!? I'm everything that you wish you could be!"

"You liar!" Kanji was so close to saying it already… god the last two people have been a lot faster for denying their Shadows… it's like someone's reading from a different script! Yosuke knew what he had to do, so he got out his kunai and got ready to summon Jiaraya.

"No don't listen to him!" Yosuke got in his stance, that's when I knew he was gonna fail… "Jiarayaaaaaaa!"

Yosuke slipped as he tried to do his flip and cut his tarot card, only to fall and Yu grabbed his hand… like an idiot! They both fell in the lube and slip a good ten feet. Teddie was the next idiot to fall, as he ran to help Yu back up and slipped too, only he slip across the entire room! Sawing, "I'll help you Sensei! Leave it to BEAAAAAAAAAAAR!"

"Will now it's your turn!" I glared at him, he shrugged and turned to summon his Persona by bringing back his Axe over his head, needless to say, he fell too… "Yep, we're fucked…"

"I really hate girls…" Kanji Shadow continued talking and it was starting to tick me off! "They look at me and say, you like to sow! Or if I paint a pretty picture they laugh at it and say wow that's weird for a guy!"

"Guh, you prick, if you don't shut your mouth…!" Kanji was in some serious pain at the moment. I could hear it in his voice. "Oh, god da…"

His Shadow put its hands on both sides of Kanji's shoulders and continued to piss me off! "You should be strong! You should be tuff! You should be manly! But what's that even mean!? Girls can be so scary…"

"Girls aren't scary!" Kanji was almost at his breaking point and I was having difficulty focusing my energy as pissed as I had gotten!

"Guys are much better!" I was now so pissed to the point that I was thinking of how to kill this Shadow in the slowest of ways possible! "They would never say those awful things! That's why I like men!"

"That's not true!"

"Oh, but it is… because you are me and I am so you." I knew what the next line was.

"Like hell you are!" I didn't care; I wanted to beat this Shadow to a pulp! I didn't care if it scared my friends into never wanting to talk to me again!

"No Kanji don't!" Yu was finally out of the pile of my friends, but he was too late…

"There is no FREAKING WAY YOU ARE A PART OF ME!" I smiled, somehow I had managed to stand up, and I was now focusing my energy the card appeared as Kanji's Shadow started to laugh.

"I'm sorry, but… I AM YOU!" That's when we saw the form, it was hard to explain… but buff and holding to of the gender symbols, both of them the guys one… he also was covered in roses and the upper torso of Kanji was in the middle of those roses. There were also two more Shadows with it, both body builders! "I am a Shadow of your true innerself!"

"I have had enough of your bullshit!" Was Kanji really not scared by his Shadow… holy shit that was a scary thought… Kanji's Shadow just started to laugh and gripped both symbols by the ends and slammed them down.

"DON'T INTURFER!" This knocked Kanji out cold and away from the battle field. Everyone else had just managed to get up, and that's when I crushed my card.

"Reap… PUPPETEER!" My Persona appeared and with a vengeance swung the scythe downwards at Kanji's Shadow, only for it to be stopped by one of the other two Shadows blocking it. This was gonna piss me off. Everyone summoned their Persona's as well. The Golem got in a fist fight with the other smaller shadow as well as Izangi and Konaha-Sakuya. Tomoe and Jiyria were helping out my Persona, but nothing seemed to hurt these guys.

"You think guys are better…" I started growling at Kanji's Shadow now, and Chie looked over at me as she had Tomoe continue to fight for her. She looked sad, she knew about my past better than everyone here, she knew that the Shadow had pissed me off to no return. She wanted to help me, but there was nothing she could do at the moment. "I suffered so much at the hands of people both guys and girls, I almost killed myself because people didn't care! I was accepted by anyone until I came to Inaba… I won't let you kill someone, just because they didn't ACCEPT you! So again! Reap Puppeteer!"

My Persona smacked the smaller Shadow away from us and into the back of the other one. "Yukiko, Chie! Switch Shadows!"

They seemed confused for the moment, but I noticed that the Shadows seemed to be unaffected by certain attacks, so switching them up might be the only way to beat them. They quickly did as I told them too and attacked the others respected Shadow that they were fighting with their magic spells and I was right, it worked the Shadows disappeared, but in our short victory, we got blindsided by Kanji's Shadow. Attacking all of us with a lightning attack, the Shadow laughed at us, it thought that it had won, to the point it started to gloat at us.

I couldn't really hear what it was trying to say, my ears were ringing, but that's when I saw Yu stand back up, even though our Personas were about down for the count Yu looked like he was gonna fight even longer, that's when we witnessed it… A magic circle appeared in front of him as well and there were two tarot cards in front of him. The two cards slammed together and from the two cards came one Persona, an eight headed snake! The snake summoned an ice storm that completely froze Kanji's Shadow. I finally heard in wimper. "So cold!"

"Change!" Yu held his hand out and the snake was replaced with Izangi! He had three Persona's! He sent Izangi at Kanji's Shadow and it kicked the Shadow and the ice broke sending the Shadow to the ground. Izangi then slammed it's spear into the Shadow and thus it was defeated… that was actually the one fight I really wanted to kill the Shadow, but I'm not gonna complain, Yu beat it and saved Kanji.

Kanji woke up about a few minutes later, giving us a chance to lick and heal all our wounds. The Shadow also took that time to stay knocked out. Which was good for it, so that it didn't die. The world seemed to slow down a bit, which sucked, mainly because we were in fucking sauna! God that sucked the most. Finally though… Kanji woke up, and he seemed to have a bit of a head ache, better than being dead. Yukiko was the first one express concern. "Kanji-kun!"

"Wait, Yukiko!" Yosuke almost yelled at her, yet what he said next was true something was up. "Something's wrong." Kanji's Shadow got to its feet and took a few steps forward, I thought that everything would be fine at that moment, until Ted started to freak out!

"I-It's still coming at us! Kanji is still rejecting it…" Teddie was so nervous that I thought he would start to run away.

"Well, I can't blame him with this many witnesses…" Yosuke was really sounding like an asshole, but I took a page from Yu's book and decided to stay quiet at that moment.

"Such a passionate approach…" Shadow Kanji was not making much sense with that comment, so little in fact that I dropped my guard.

"Da fuck!?" I titled my head and rubbed the back of my neck. Everyone, including Yu seemed so confused at that moment.

"What?" Yosuke sounded a bit like a dumbass using that line… god Yosuke, just take a page from Yu once in a while.

"I think that you five… would make wonderful boyfriends." Every one of the guys jumped back so fast, I surprised that we didn't bust down the wall behind us, this was ridiculous! But I quickly recovered and smiled at the Shadow, which caused everyone to give me a weird fucking look.

"Sorry, two things." I held up one finger to the Shadow, my index for those who would otherwise misinterpret what I'm saying. "One, I'm taken, two… you're nowhere near my type dude!"

"Don't encourage it!" Will stopped his foot, but I noticed him look over at Yukiko when I mentioned that I was taken. Feeling lucky Will? Still, I notice Chie roll her eyes at me when I finished that statement, but she smiled as well. But we all quickly got serious again.

"S-stop it! Y-you got it all wrong!" Yosuke started to wave his hands in front of him so that he could get his point across…

"I-I have someone in mind!" Yu rubbed the back of his neck, I was so damned confused. But damn would the girls gossip about this shit later!

"Enough… Stop… What the hell are you blabbering about…?" Kanji seemed to finally gather enough energy to talk. Just not as much as he should have.

"I don't care who…" I stopped, I finally understood it… why Kanji's shadow was like this… it wasn't a part of his personality. It was a desire. "Won't someone, anyone, please accept me…?"

"Enough! God, I hate having something like this in me, you have no freaking idea how embarrassing it is!" Kanji got up in the Shadows face now. He was just about as pissed as I was a minute again, but now he could control his anger. "Look, it's not about liking girls or guys. I just scared shitless of being rejected! I'm nothing more than scared little pansy who spends his time pushing other people away! I already knew you were inside of me! I'm you and your me damnit!"

With that Kanji's Shadow nodded and was enveloped in a blue light. From the Shadow came a large robotic creature that was black with a white skeleton pattern drawn all over it, you could see some of the wires at some of the joints, it also held a large yellow lightning bolt.

"Man that is one buff dude!" Chie and Yukiko smiled as Kanji finally accepted his Shadow. I poked Chie on the shoulder and put on a mock hurt face.

"Should I be jealous?" Chie quickly slipped her hand into mine and she shook her head.

"Like you said," She smiled at me, and of course I smiled back. "He's not my type."

Just like with Chie and Yukiko, I heard Kanji whisper something, it was the name of his Persona. "Take-Mikazuchi…" and just like the other two before him, he feel to the ground.

"Kanji-kun!" We all ran to his side as he huffed a bit, he had been in her the same amount of time as Yukiko, but that was till enough to do it.

"Let's get him out of here!" Yosuke was the first one to grab him and try to put his arm over his shoulder. Kanji was smiling as we dragged him all the way home.

* * *

Home

"That was awesome!" Will yelled as we entered my house again, we just left Kanji at his house and went our separate ways for the night. It was late by the time we all got home. I smiled as Will excitement made me see just how much his Shadow blow his feelings out of proportion. "How come you never told me about that world!?"

"Because it was dangerous, still is…" I yawned a bit, I think that Yukiko, Will, and me all did pretty good for using our Persona's for the first time. "Yo! Em, we're home!"

I walked past her door and was about to knock on it, there was a note on her door. "_Going to stay with Mother tonight, sorry I didn't tell you this morning… by the way, way to kick ass on the Midterms!_"

I smiled as I read the last part of the note that was the Em I knew and loved. Still, I yawned again and heard Will still flipping out about his Persona. "_Goodnight Will._"

"_See ya tomorrow!_" I walked in my room and fell onto the bed with a smile on my face. Around Midnight I felt a someone watching me, and that woke me up… I found that there was no one in my room, but there was a torn up note on my desk. I quickly picked it up and I fell to the ground as I read it. I was scared, the note, I recognized the handwriting, and the threat! "_I found you…_"

* * *

_**I AM SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO sorry about the wait, school work and studying got in the way, but school comes first. Still, I have nothing else to distract me for the rest of the week, but there will not be an update on Friday or Saturday, I'm not sure about the rest of the week.**_

_**Anyway, Hope you enjoyed! Seed feedback!**_


	32. Chapter 32: Nightmare and Trust

April 29, 2007

Iowa

I was crying on my bed, the people at School had thrown rocks at me as I left, so I ran, but still ended up with cuts all over. My mom tried to get someone to do something, but everyone was in favor of the kids who had beaten me… I cried so much that night that my eyes stung, it was almost Midnight, and I had school the next day. I didn't want to go, I didn't give a fuck what anyone said… I hated those kids, and I wanted a way to get back at them… the only problem is that there is a gap in my memory that was filled in at this time. Yet, something was different this night, I was still crying when I heard a deep and distorted voice. "**Why are you crying human? Did someone hurt you?**"

I looked up from my knees to see a cloaked figure standing in the corner of my room… he just stood there staring at me through a white mask with only one eye hole. The sleeves of his cloak were cut off and it seemed like he had no eyes. I nodded at the person; I had no reason to trust this person, and no reason not to. "P-people threw rocks at me…"

"**Poor human…**" The person was weird, it sounded like it was enjoying my pain. Yet, I still had no reason not to trust this person. That's when a long bone black arm slowly came out of the hole on the left side of the cloak, there were long claws attached to it, and in those claws was a torn up piece of paper with a single word on it. _Shadow_. "**I have a way for you to get back at them if you want to…**"

"W-what is it!?" I almost jumped off the bed at the person; I was getting desperate for a way out. I didn't care who it was done, not yet anyway… "I'll do anything!"

"**You simply must bring them to this wonderful hour!**" He retreated the claw into the cloak and titled his head. "**If you can do that, the Shadows will do the rest.**"

"H-how do I do that!?"

"**Make them doubt themselves…**" I nodded and the creature laughed at me. I knew it was at me now, but it seemed like it was with me. I thought I had made a friend… I was so wrong. "**By the way… my name is Nyarlathotep.**"

* * *

May 20, 2011

Forecast… Sunny

Friday

_Don't worry, I won't harm you, I simply wanted to let you know that I knew where you were if you wanted to continue our game or not. Goodnight Richards._ I didn't notice the back of the note until I was half way to school. I was still worried about this, this was weird and it was just added on to the list of stuff that I didn't want to deal with. I sighed this was gonna suck… that's when Chie ran up next to me. "Yo!"

"Hey Chie…" I should have been happy; I would have been too… if not for this damned note! She stopped smiling the moment she heard my voice. I knew that she worried the moment that I saw her expression. We almost stopped walking when she grabbed my wrist.

"You okay…?" I sighed when the question reached my ears. I was gonna have to tell someone about the note, even if I didn't remember that much about the author. I thought about if I should tell her or not, I did trust Chie, hell even with my life, but I was worried that this would get her killed… or hell, worse, I don't know what could have been worse, but if I brought her into this… I didn't want to find out. "You know you can tell if something's bothering you."

"I do…" I sighed; I made my decision at that moment… I had tried too many times to do things by myself, and it almost got me killed too many time. I took my hand out of her grip and slipped my hand into hers. I needed her now more than ever with this… I knew what I was going to do, but I needed one other persons help with this. "I'll tell you and Narukami about it after school, 'kay?"

"Okay," she still seemed worried, but just a little more relived about the situation. I knew that I could try and have them help me… I just got the sinking feeling that my past was a lot more traumatic than I remember…

* * *

Time Change: Early Morning to After School

Roof

"Thanks for coming up here guys…" I was leaning against the fence when Yu and Chie walked through the doors. I think I looked like a damned mess. I sighed; this was scaring me at this moment, would they still talk to me? Would they hate me? Would they still trust me? "I, uh… I need to tell you guys something…"

Chie walked over to me and sat down next to me. She obviously knew that I was having a hard time at that moment. Yu stood over us, he didn't really blink at me, I wanted this day to end and end quickly. "What's wrong?"

"I think… I think I did something a few years ago…" I was so worried that they would hate me, but Yu and Chie just looked at me. I was getting even more nervous when they didn't say anything. "I think I might have caused some people more pain, or even killed someone…"

At this moment both Yu and Chie shook their heads, and… smiled! "I highly doubt that." Yu smiled down at me, they seemed like they looked like they were going laugh. "You're not that kind of person."

"Who we are now is not determined by who we were, it is only the building blocks help build us up." I sighed, now I had to tell them about the nightmares. "Look guys, I've been having nightmares that seem to be, like lost memories, and there was a figure in them… he- he called himself Nyarlathotep. I think I'm actually remembering things… I just want your guys' help…"

Now they gave me a solemn look, they knew I was serious now. I really needed their help more than anything. "Okay, if anyone will stand by you through this… its me." Chie put her head on my shoulder. I half smiled at her, Yu nodded as well… I knew both of them were with me.

"Thanks… I think I need to go home and take a long cold shower…" I sighed and hugged Chie before looking to Yu and standing up. "Thanks man…"

With that I walked away. I did exactly what I said I was going to do… I hated my life still.

* * *

**_Sorry it's a short chapter the damn idea is a work in progress… so I didn't have much to go by, still hoped you enjoyed, and send feedback the next chapter will be longer!_**


	33. Chapter 33: Strength plays with Strength

May 21, 2011

Forecast… Cloudy

Saturday

"_It's gonna get harder from here. We've gotta get smarter to make it out alive. 'Cause you say stop and we say go. Don't wanna be your tenth caller on the radio. So don't bother cutting me off short tonight. We let our words speak for themselves." _It was again after school, and I was actually in the library listening to my I-pod. I wasn't trying to study; I was looking for book to do a report on, still the library was way too quiet for me… "_Don't take it all so far. Don't make it that much harder. Than it already is for you to stand alone. For you, for you, for you! To wake up knowing you've got the day. To take on without feeling okay! To make yourself unwilling to sleep away… Sleep away the pain!"_

I was rummaging in what I assumed was the fiction section… why? Well, until I started to see the words biography and autobiography… Great, just what I wanted to read about… people failing and or succeeding in life… it was stupid, I always read fiction, because the fact was that I hated reading nonfiction, it showed how much life could suck. I sighed, I wasn't going to find anything I wanted in here… "_Don't take off running without my say. Don't pay that price you thought you'd pay! You're got the choice, you've got the time of day! Just don't sleep away the pain!"_

I was amazed that I still knew any English with the fact everyone in my house was speaking Japanese. I wasn't even making an attempt to speak it anymore, yet I would still sing my favorite songs when I was at home. Anyway, I saw an old book that looked like no one had touched it in years… I wasn't surprised… it was probably another biography. So, I picked it up to look at the cover, which was faded badly… I could make out the last name of the author at least… "Kirijo… Never heard of him…"

I shrugged and tried to put the book back when a note slipped out of the book. I just about flipped out, well I wasn't paying attention and it fell on my leg… So I did what any normal person would have done… drop to the ground and cover my head… oh, come on, like you haven't done it before! Still, when I noticed the note, I got embarrassed… I looked at the note, but it was kinda long and I still needed to find a book for my report… So I just slipped it into my pocket.

I still trifled through the books until someone grabbed my shoulder, which again caused me to flip out! "HOLY CRAP!"

"Yo! Kreed-san!" It was Daisuke… what the hell, he scared the crap out of me! "Hey, can you come with me? Me and Narukami need your help!"

"Huh?" before I could even ask what was going on… Daisuke grabbed my wrist and dragged me out of the library. "Hey! Wait! I need a book!"

"That can wait!" This promised to be an entertaining day… I hoped… that or it was gonna suck beyond all belief!

* * *

Gym

"Is the other team here yet?" I could not believe what I was doing, here I was… one of the least athletic people I knew, in the gym getting ready to play basketball… "More importantly, is Kou here yet?"

"Actually…" I rubbed the back of my neck as I tried to think of all the ways that this could have happened to me. I wasn't the only person who looked confused by the turn of advents. Was I the last person to be dragged into this… good god this was messed up… "Why am I even here? I suck at sports…"

"You were the last person I could think to ask that hadn't turned down the offer already." Yu rubbed the back of his neck. "That and Chie is helping out to record the whole game…"

"At least my girlfriend can help cheer me on." I sighed, that was when Chie entered the room with a camera. Then Kou also walked in, he was in the basketball team's uniform, he was greatly shocked to see Daisuke and me.

"Daisuke? Kreed-san?" At least I wasn't the only person I knew who was confused. "First… Daisuke, this is the gym, not the field, you know. Also, Kreed-san… why are you here, thought that you didn't play any sports?"

"I guess we're on the basketball team today…" I glared at Narukami for a moment before turning my attention back to Kou. He was even more confused when guys in different basketball uniforms showed up in the gym… much to Daisuke's delight.

"Alright, they're here." Daisuke smiled brightly, Yu… he had his calm face on, and I looked like I was about to die… "The game's about to start, Kou."

"Huh!?" Boy Kou, way to sound intelligent… "Wait, we don't have enough players!"

"I see six of us right here." Daisuke was definitely determined to play this game… I was more worried about the fact that the library would close at around 5:30… it was a quarter to five… I really didn't want to have to do this, but I liked Kou, he was a cool guy. And I guess this was to help him, apparently Kou has been having some family issues and this was to help him get back into the groove. His family didn't want him to play basketball, then his sister was gonna take over his family, so now he got to play… only, now he didn't want to… classic case of wanting what you can't have. Though I was game for helping him out with this.

"But… that's counting… you!?" Kou actually thought that we had a chance if Daisuke wasn't here? Dude, I couldn't even win at horse! This would have gone better if I wasn't here! In fact, there was a time where I was in a game of knock out, everyone was doing good until about my fourth time through… needless to say… the game stayed true to its name, and we got to leave gym early since the teacher was out cold… Anyway!

"Look, I know you think that no matter how hard you train, you're not accomplishing anything." Daisuke smiled at his longtime friend, who was still confused as all fuck! "But you can't do it all by yourself. You've got us. And you've got the rest of the guys who showed up today. Don't forget that!"

So we all gathered in the locker room for a few minutes, nothing was really said, but still. Just before we left though… Kou stopped Narukami and me. "Hey, guys… thanks for doing this…"

"No problem." I smiled and rubbed the back of my neck, because this was a game, I didn't have my beanie on again, so my hair was again at the top of my eyes. "Just here to help…"

"Yeah." Yu nodded in agreement with me. Kou suddenly got red, oh god… it was Kanji all over again.

"Hey, if we win this… I'm gonna tell Chie how I feel about her!" I froze… did I just hear that right… no, I must have misheard the words as they came to my ears. Come on, everyone knew me and Chie were dating, right? I mean after all, we started to hold hands more and every day at lunch we either ate in the class room or went to the roof alone, there was no way in hell that Kou didn't know that we were dating. "Hell, maybe I'll even get somewhere!"

Yu looked away from me the moment he saw my face start to turn dark red… oh god no! He was not going to even try and ask my girlfriend out! The world would end five thousand times before I even think about letting that happen! I started to grind my teeth… oh, I was so pissed off! Yu put a hand on my shoulder and I almost instantly calmed down… and Kou ran out of the room. I looked at Yu and sighed loudly. "At least give him something to fight for this time."

"Fine…" I started to walk out of the room. "Doesn't mean that I'm gonna like it!"

* * *

Game time!

I could easily hear Ai and Chie start to argue over by the camera. "I don't care if you are just helping out for one game, you are NOT welcome here!"

"Why do you care what happens?" Chie looked over the camera to see Ai staring at her. "I hear you hardly show up for practice anyway!" That kinda pissed Ai even more than she already was for some reason… I like I even knew why, but still. The people who started the game where, well everyone who was there for us… come one, we only had six guys, the other team had at least ten… "Kreed-san!"

I turned to see Kou walk over at me, I breathed in deeply… Narukami was right, he didn't seem like he wanted to really be here, so I was gonna play along for the time being. Kou was still a cool guy, I guess he just needed to listen to the grape vine more often, or whatever the hell you call the place where all those rumors come from. "Yeah?"

"How fast can you run?"

"Not very, I think…" Kou sighed as the words left my mouth.

"Okay." That's when we all had to line up and the ref blew his whistle. Everyone bowed and said the same words.

"Let's play fair!" With that the ref threw the ball into the air Kou and the tallest guy on the other team jumped to reach it, the other team got it. He quickly turned to go after the ball. Narukami tried to block on guy, as I snuck up on another by walking over to him, just before the ball got to him. I dove at the ball knocking it away from him and to Daisuke… who kicked it… god damnit Daisuke… just god damnit. Ai and Chie were taking some kinda of notes I guess, but I could still hear them, kinda. The other team grabbed the ball out of the air and scored. That's when I really started to hear them argue. "Seeing you up close just pisses me off even more! I can't believe I lost to a frumpy looking dog like you!"

Time really started to fly as the two argued. Still, Ai's comment really pissed Chie off! "What are you talking about!?"

"Don't act like you don't know!" I flinched when I heard the next line, which made the basketball smash into my face, knocking me to the ground. Yeah, it was painful, and really fucking hurt! "I'm going through hell because of you!"

"Well, as long as we're sharing, I got something to tell you." Again, I was about to shoot the ball, when the words out of Chie's mouth made me hesitate, again allowing the other team to steal the ball away from me. "I've seen the way you push Narukami around, it's horrible!"

Yet again, Ai made me stop as I was about to block someone from the other team… yes this game was moving that fucking fast! "No way, you got the hot's for Narukami don't you?"

"_OH FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!_" This was ridiculous! How did Ai not even know about me and Chie!? I heard Ai gossiping before, and she was good at it! So how the fuck did she not know about this!

"He's my friend!" Chie was genially pissed off now. "Besides! I'm dating Kreed!"

Thank you god, this allowed me to concentrate a bit. Kou got the ball and made another basket for our team. Narukami got the ball and we nodded at each other. I imagined that the court was a hallway full of shadows and made my run. I slid under one guy, and as I tried to get back up, I tripped and rolled, I had no idea how I did that, but it was FUCKING EPIC! Anyway, Narukami through the ball when I made it the three point line, it flew over everyone's head and I was able to grab a hold of it and make a two pointer… what, I suck at this game! I was amazed at how well I was doing! Then again, I heard them arguing… AGAIN! "You're loved and you got a bunch of friends to boot! Great!" I noticed her stand up and take a step to Chie. "You got everything! You bitch!"

That's when I saw Ai smack Chie! Oh, god this was not gonna end well… and when the hell did Narukami and Ai start hanging out? I wanted to know this… still girlfriend slapped… the made me mad, but this is Chie we are talking about, she would fight back. Chie held her check and stood up and began to fight back!

"What the hell! All I was saying was that if you're gonna be Narukami's girlfriend, then treat him better!" Wait… WHAT THE FUCK!? How was I missing so much info about my friends all of a sudden!? Chie then slapped Ai in the face. So the slapping went back and forth, so did the game. Kou was doing amazingly well, so was Narukami, my epic two pointer run was the last that I got to be epic the rest of the game.

Yu finally noticed what was going on! And stopped playing the game. He knew something that I didn't… which even kinda surprised me when I found out… "Hey knock it off! This might be Ichijo's last game! Sit down and watch it!"

Kou broke through and made it to the three point line and jump shot it. Time seemed to slow down as the ball flew at the basket… and… SWISH! Then we saw the final score… I fell down when I saw it! "We lost… 40 to 68…"

Everyone, even me, were sweating, it was a good try but still. I looked over at Ai and Chie, to see Chie walk over to me and Ai just looking at Kou, she seemed sad. "You did really good, Kreed… you sure you're not gonna join the team."

I smiled up at my girlfriend. "Only if my amazing girl friend is there to cheer me on."

"Always." Chie helped pull me to my feet, she hugged me then. Yet, she quickly pulled away. "I think we need to train more!" Chie bent over a bit and poked my chest and put one hand on her hip. "You didn't even sweat this much in the sauna! Next time, we are gonna really put you into shape!"

"What on earth made you think that I am out of shape!?" We both laughed until I noticed Kou looking over at us. "Hey, I'll be right back…"

"'Kay." I walked over to Kou with a sympathetic smile on my face. I know that he was surprised by this, if he really was a good guy, he would leave it alone, but he also need an answer about it.

"Sorry I didn't tell you… me and Chie have been going out since the beginning of this month." I rubbed the back of my neck and Kou just smiled at…

"Na, it's cool, just guess I was too slow." I put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, wanna go eat at Aiya's?"

"Only if I buy it!" I sighed and my smile was gone. "After all, it was your last game… sorry."

"Actually, I'm not gonna quite!" Kou smiled and ran after the rest of the team. "Meet you at Aiya's! We'll finish talking about it there!"

"Yo, Chie, Narukami!" They both looked at me a little bit confused. "Call up Yosuke and Yukiko, Aiya's on me! I'm gonna call Will and Em!"

Yeah, I had fun… and even made a good friend that day… Kou is a cool guy… maybe, I should actually join one of the teams, hell, maybe start a baseball team! Hey, I mean I already use a baseball bat to kill Shadows... might as well use it for what it was made for! I flipped out my phone and dialed Em's number, no one picked up. So I shrugged… she must have been wit mom.

* * *

Time Change: After School to Evening

The girl shook her head as she woke up, she was lost and confused about what had happened… all she could see was a TV screen in front of her, she was about scream for help... and that's when someone pushed her at the screen, she was shocked when she fell right threw, a few seconds before, she felt her phone start to ring as she fell. The last thing she thought before hitting her head against the ground was… _Help me, someone! Please... Brother... I'm scared..._

* * *

_**Sup! I'm back! Sorry, my school had its prom on Saturday, I went alone to the post prom (sad face) just kidding, though I was out way to late, I finally woke up from it today, fully! So to celebrate… here is Chapter 33! Hope you enjoyed, and send the feedback!**_

_**Song(s):**_

_**The World Calling by There for Tomorrow**_


	34. Chapter 34: Welcome to the show Em

May 22, 2011

Forecast… Cloudy

Sunday

"Chie is with parents today, Yu is where every the hell he goes on the weekends, Yosuke is working… poor sap." I was walking along the Flood Plain with my hands behind my head with my chest back farther than the rest of me. To be honest it would only take someone to poke me for me to fall flat on my ass. Still… "Kou is at a family meeting, Kanji is still sick, Will is a job interview for the book store, would be weird to hang out with Yukiko… God I really don't know very many people do I…"

I tried calling Em again in the morning when I saw that she still wasn't home, so again I assumed she was with Mom. Yet, I knew my mom, it was Sunday, she wouldn't wake up until Midnight tonight… why? Who the fuck knows!? Still I didn't want to wake her. I sighed as I kept walking, until again I made it to the stairs by the Flood Plain, that's when I noticed the old woman in the funeral get up, I was so confused, how many funerals has she been going to? Of course I wasn't really gonna bother her, so I quickly turned to walk away, still leaning backwards. I spun around way to fast and fell backwards, go figure right, so I just let gravity do its worst, not really caring… I rolled down the hill, still not landing on the stairs! I once again stopped short of ramming into the old woman… only this time I was upside down… "Ow… that hurt…"

"Oh my… is that you Kreed-chan?" Hisano smiled down at me. She looked like she was trying not to laugh at me; I was still perfectly fine, except my pride just got kicked in the balls! "My, my, you remind me of him. Only, unlike you, his nose was just a little lower than yours, and his eyes a bit smaller, and his was shorter… Haha, he was a handsome man."

I quickly rolled over a jumped to my feet to look Hisano in the face, so I guess she was trying to say that I looked like someone… until she described him… She was older, so I wasn't gonna bitch and complain, she probably had many ways that someone could remind her of someone else. I shrugged for a moment and looked around, all just to make sure that everything was working properly. "I guess I didn't really look like him." I smiled gently to Hisano.

"Well, maybe not so much in the face, but…" She smiled at me, this was weird, but I guess that I liked talking to her; I guess she was my friend. So, to be honest, I thought about coming back here at least once a week to talk to her, or whenever I could. "Your expressions and the gestures you make, perhaps?" She didn't sound too sure about that, but I almost laughed at her, until I heard the next few words… "My husband, that is. My husband passed away recently…"

"Oh, I-I'm sorry…" I looked away from her, this was a very delicate topic with just about everyone who this had ever happened to, so I wanted to avoid talking about it, but she brought it back up.

"It's quite alright dear." She smiled at me, just before her face dropped back into a darker expression of sorrow. "Do I look like Death to you?"

The question very much grabbed my attention; she called herself that last time I was here. I had no idea why she would say that. I thought about it for a moment, I went over every last version of death I had heard about… that's when I knew that, that wasn't what she was asking about at all! "Oh, oh! Of course not!"

"I see…" Hisano looked to the ground for a brief moment. I didn't really want to upset her, so I was very much up for avoiding that! I started to feel like I was learning more about her just by talking to her… it was a unique feeling, one that I remember feeling with Chie when we started talking. Only this wasn't really the same. I mean after all, I started to date Chie, hell I was starting to… Never mind, we'll leave that for another time! A-anyway! Hisano looked to the ground before she looked up at me. "You mustn't become Death."

My jaw almost dropped at the statement, and the fact the she just smiled, given it was a sad kind of smile. That statement had given me a definite reason to return to talk to her again. "I won't, but I once tried to invite him to take me away… well a few times…"

"Oh dear!" Hisano seemed shocked, yet she also knew what I was talking about, she I could understand why that would shock her so much. I don't know why it really shocked people so much, you could clearly see the scar on my neck if you really looked hard enough, and besides, I was over all that, that kind of thought that was going through Hisano's head was what got me in trouble the first time. "I never knew that. You don't look the type for that kind of thing."

I smiled sadly at Hisano, I really didn't think about it that much. There wasn't that much for me to worry about from me anymore, except maybe beating the ever-loving shit out of those thugs if I ever see them again. I don't think that there are many people who would bother stopping me if they saw that, in fact, I was half excepting someone to help next time. Even if it was very unlikely. Hisano looked at me again. "When I'm with you I feel like he has forgiven me… That can't possibly be true, though… After all, I'm the one who… I'll see you later, Kreed-chan."

With that… I watched sadly as Hisano walked away, I thought before that I was the only person who was troubled… the truth can be a cruel and dangerous thing. I guess that's why the investigation team was looking for it… so that it wouldn't be such a dangerous thing, and people didn't have to fear it. So we could all live for a change!

* * *

Time Change: Afternoon to Evening

"How'd it go?" I looked over the couch as Will walked into the house, he was looking to the ground, so I wasn't really expecting a miracle, still, you'd think in a small town like this, someone would give him a job just to be nice. Will shook his head in defeat and fell onto the couch next to me. He sighed loudly.

"That's the third one that I've tried this week!" I tried to laugh, I knew he was over exaggerating, it wasn't the end of the world if he didn't get a job right away, and everything was close enough that you could walk to it. So really didn't need to waste the gas. "Why is this so difficult!?"

"Maybe you're looking in the wrong places…" I looked to the ceiling with a smile on my face; it was getting harder not to smile when my friends were around. That was a good thing though. I yawned as I looked over at the clock. "Holy crap it's that late already!"

It was just about Midnight, which was a surprise in itself… but then I heard something hit the window outside, and not even a second later than that did it happen again! That's when I knew that it had started to rain that night. I sighed; I wondered if anyone would show up tonight… Well, we hadn't heard any reports of missing people. I started to walk to my room. "Going to sleep?"

"No Will, I'm going to jump out of my window." I smiled at him and made it halfway down the hallway… that's when my phone started to ring. I looked at the small device as I pulled it out of my pocket. It was my mom. "_Hello? Mom?"_

"_Kris! Is that you!?"_ She sounded frantic and scared, she was breathing heavily at that moment. It was starting to scare me! There were barely an times that she did this kind of thing… but when she did… something bad happened. "_Is Em with you!?"_

"_No, I thought she was with you…_" No I was really scared, I did not like were this was going… and it was going there fast! There's no way that Em had anything to do with Ms. Yamano! She didn't fit the pattern! There was no way… no way that my little sister was in there, sh-she couldn't be!

"_No, I-I haven't seen her at all!"_ I froze where I now stood, Will looked at me from down the hall, he also looked worried, he knew Em, but he was more worried about me… this was my sister we were talking about! "_No one at the inn has seen her either… I-I don't know what to do… Em…"_

"_I'll find her mom, trust me…"_ I think she nodded when the words left my mouth, she was weird like that. She didn't say another word, just hung the phone up. That's when I heard the TV turn on in the living… I walked to where I could see the screen. Standing there in a gothic outfit was my little sister with a steel guitar in her hands. "No…"

"_**Hellooooo shit for brains!**_" I know that it was her Shadow talking, but I about lost it right then and there! The Shadow was going to make a mockery of her! "_**You useless sacks of meat have just tuned into the best fucking show in the whole damned world… mine! I'd thank you, but then that would mean I'd have to give a fuck about all of you… and to be honest… I don't.**_"

Me and Will were speechless, me because Em had been kidnapped, Will because he wasn't used to seeing Em act like this. Which was understandable, not many people knew how she really acted. Hell, me and my mom were lucky that we did. She didn't like many people knowing that she acted kinda like how she dressed, just a bit like a punk rocker. To be honest, she had ADHD, so she had difficulty paying attention to anything. Yet, she did a good job at doing that. "_**Anyway way, I'm having a small dilemma… I need an audience, pieces of shit or not, I don't give a fuck! Still an audience. To watch me in one of the best damned guitar battles you have ever fucking seen! I know what you're thinking now 'what, a sweet fucking girl like Em Richards in a guitar battle!' I know, you fucking morons! Just wait till you see the opponent… LATER BITCHES!**_"

"I have no fucking clue what to say to any of that…" Will got up and started to walk down the hall towards his room. "So, I'm gonna go sleep that whole damned thing off, later." I just stood there for a moment… I couldn't think straight, this was unbelievable! There was no way in hell that I could think straight at that moment, there was no way for me to process this information that I had just received! No possible way! I was shook from my thoughts when my phone started ring.

"Hello?" I was amazed that I was able to process enough thought to get that word out. Then I heard Chie almost yell over the phone.

"WH-wh-what was that!?" Chie start to flip out a bit, I think just about everyone on the team was, after all this was another person just appeared on the Midnight Channel! "Was that really Em-chan!"

"Yeah," I started to breathe heavy for a moment, this was bad, very bad! "Chie, haven't asked much of you, but I think I'm gonna need help."

"With what?" I know reading this it sounds rude, but no… those were the most sincere words I have ever heard.

"Kicking the shit out of the Shadow wearing my sisters face!"

* * *

_**Bam! Yes, Em is in the TV! Unfortunately, if there is an update tomorrow, it will be around Midnight. No, update Saturday unless I don't finish Friday, it will be early in the morning. Hope you enjoyed and please send feedback and I've been thinking about it and its gonna be a long time before they appear but I need at least ten to fifteen OC's, I cannot really make and keep track of that many characters, so if ya want you can send some in! You will be notified if yours is accepted! Persona-user or not is needed, also good or evil needed, so send feedback! And remember there is a very long time before they appear, but I will take them now.**_


	35. Chapter 35: Just Listen to the Beat

May 23, 2011

Forecast… Rain in the Morning, Cloudy at night

Monday

"That was one of the weirdest things I have ever seen!" I heard the people gossiping, I just hoped to god that they hadn't see- "The person on the Midnight Channel, I've never seen her before, she was dressed like a punk rocker…"

Well… um… damnit… "Dude, what are you talking about? You must have been dreaming."

"No, I'm telling you!"

"Come, let's go…"

"But…" And saved by the bell on that one! I sighed, hoping that Chie and me weren't the only ones who saw the Midnight Channel last night… I was scared, scared that my little, annoying, dumbass of a caring sister might be dead… I was thinking about it over and over again, how did Em even come close to fitting the pattern!? I knew for a fact that she had never shown up on TV until the Midnight Channel! And she was here far too to have met Ms. Yamano! I tried to stand up, but my legs started to shake heavily, I almost fell straight to the ground. I would have too, if Chie hadn't grabbed my arm. Everyone was right behind her; they all had worried looks on their faces. They knew that is time, it was without a doubt personal!

"We need to discuss this…" Yu barely mentioned it, but we knew we had to. I nodded and carefully took my seat again. We all sat down in a circle, we were the only people left in the room at that time. I took a deep breath.

"It doesn't make any sense…" I curled my fist and looked straight at the ground. "Why would he target Em!? She was never on TV, and she didn't even have any encounters with Ms. Yamano!"

"I thought the same thing…" Yukiko spoke up while also looking like she was deep in thought. "So, I looked into it, and actually… Em-chan was on TV once… after… one of your… attempts…"

I froze, I had forgotten all about the third time… a local saw me getting ready to cut my… well, I won't get too far into it... The local news station made a big deal about it even went so far as to call me a psychopath! My mom flipped the switch on those guys… that station almost was run out of business with that law-suit… "Though, it seems like my mom was on the phone with her when Ms. Yamano was trying to get service…"

"So she does fit the pattern…" Yosuke rubbed his chin, he was right, but only by those little defaults… "But she isn't that well known yet, so it still doesn't make much sense… Gahh! This is so freaking messed up! There wasn't even a warning!"

"Actually…" I spoke up quietly; Yosuke looked at me with a confused glance… "She started to show up the same time Kanji did… "Her appearance was a lot slower though…"

"Well we can't just sit here!" Chie jumped to her feet with her arms at her sides. "It won't do Em-chan any good if we sit around and complain about it! We need to save her, and not just for her…"

"Chie…" I looked up at her, I wanted to thank her, but then everyone spoke up…

"Yeah!" Yukiko also got to her feet, we needed to do this, and she knew it. "Em-chan is a good person, she doesn't deserve this!"

"Yukiko-san…"

"We can't just let one of our friend's family die." Yosuke put on his signature smirk with one eye closed. I was close to tears, I hadn't know any of these guys for very long… and they were already going out of their way for me… Yu stood up with a smile on his face.

"We can't just let someone die, especially not some that important to a friend." I'm kinda embarrassed to admit it, that and Yosuke laughs every time I mention it… even though I know he means well… I started to cry, right there in that desk with the four people who were slowly becoming like family to me… I felt a hand on my shoulder, then one on the other. Yet another put one on my head, then… one gripped my hand. "What are you crying for?"

"Be- because… I… never ha- had thi-this… before…" I rubbed my eyes with my sleeve and slowly stood up, I had the third biggest smile I would every have on my face at that moment… the second and first came later… "I'm… I'm happy!"

"Let's go save Em-chan!" Chie pumped her arms to her sides and did a little jump. All of us looked over to her. "Then, we gotta rescue her!"

We all stared at her for a moment… that was when we busted out laughing, not at Chie, she laughed with us. I stopped and looked at Chie's brown eyes, I sighed loudly as everything calmed down.

* * *

Junes Food Court

Will was already waiting us at the food court, he had on a dress shirt and tie, I guess he had another failed job interview. "Cool, I knew we'd meet up here!"

"Yeah," I smiled at my old friend and pushed his shoulder. "We were just about to head for Ted's."

"Yeah, and since Em is Kreed's sister, we shouldn't have to do any investigating." Yosuke sighed loudly when he voiced this. He was right, that could cause us a lot of trouble to have to run around and try to find any information on the person in trouble. This should have worked to our advantage… should have. "So let's get going already!"

"Yosuke…" I looked at him with death in my eyes. "Do not steal Chie's lines!"

* * *

Shadow World

Entrance

Evening

"I do smell someone in here…" Teddie looked confused when we mentioned that Em was in the TV world. "But I just noticed it now… that is beary troublesome… could me nose really be getting that bad! Oh, this is a grizzly problem indeed."

We all shook our head at Teddie, but we were silent for that moment, and that's when I heard it. Everyone else did too. "Is that… music?"

Yukiko titled her head slightly, she was right, it was a guitar at that… from what I could tell, it was playing the song _Memories_ by Weezer… that was a song that was important to me and my sister… "Wait… where is that coming from?" Chie looked around, it sounded like it was coming from every direction at once!

"Oh, great!" I slapped my forehead. It left a red mark there for a time; I knew what was going on. Yosuke figured it out as well.

"Surround sound!?" I nodded at Yosuke, so the Shadow was drowning out every possible way of finding us using music. This was not planned.

"Oh, not again!" Ted started to stomp his foot, apparently the music bothered Ted. To be honest… the TV world was way too quiet for me… it need the music. "That music is making almost impossible to find Em-chan!"

"Dude!" Will almost yelled at the bear. "You don't even know what she looks like… why are you already calling her chan?"

"Well, why not?" Will and Teddie continued to argue on the subject, that's when Yosuke pulled me aside. I was very confused by the whole thing…

"You okay?" Now I was even more confused… what in the world had caused Yosuke to pull me aside. I could still hear Will and Teddie arguing. "I mean are you okay enough to fight."

"Yosuke…" I put on my most evil of grins. "This thing is in the way between me and my sister. You can bet your ass I'm good to go!"

That's when the music stopped and Teddie's ears perked up. "Oh, what's this!? I'm bearly certain that I found the sent!" We all stopped and looked right at Ted. The world was about to be set right, I wasn't gonna let some overpowered… I guess ego ain't the right word, still… I wasn't gonna let some overpowered emotions take my sister away. "I know where the scent's coming from! It's that away!"

* * *

Stadium

"We should have seen this one coming…" Chie sighed as we looked up the large stadium before us. In retro speck… she was right, Em's Shadow was looking for a show, and the best place to do so… a freaking stadium… just great… "Though, why did the music stop?"

"Probably waiting for an audience…" Yu looked at the door; the door was a normal size for a stadium entrance. The only thing was, the door looked like the whole Hypnos circle… thing, I don't know what to call it! Still, I was calm enough to gather the info of our surroundings. "Kreed, do you know anything that Em was trying to hide?"

"Besides playing guitar, and the fact that she is a little more…" I gripped my chin to think of the right words. "Foal mouthed."

"I can vouch for that…"Will rubbed the back of his neck… yeah, he knew from experience. Em and him got in a disagreement once and Em would have to put at least one hundred dollars in a swear jar. It was actually very funny to watch Em's reactions change and Will scramble across the floor to get away from her. It made me chuckle even at that moment. "Still, she's not a bad person…"

Everyone nodded, I already figured out what part why it was a stadium… I needed to tell Em something then, and nothing was gonna stop that from happening. I pulled at my beanie and walked to the front door of the stadium. That's when I saw a sign on the door. I practically kicked the door open when I saw it. "Come guys, it's a free concert… and I don't plan on missing it!"

* * *

Staduim

Mainfloor

The moment we entered the Stadium shadows started to attack from all directions that they could, which was from the actual stadium doors and from both hallways, which made it easy to guess where they were coming from. Yet I noticed a song playing from the speakers of all around us. "_For a minute, she's stuck spinning in it. Still it's better to lose hope than dying in it. Off track, impact, slam! She's lying in it. Now she leads the way to the lost cost exhibit. You got to break through the walls that try to hold you._"

That was all I needed to hear to know that it was without a doubt Em inside the TV. That was one of her absolute favorite songs. I summoned my tarot card and bashed the card with the tip of my baseball bat. The fact of the matter was, I wasn't pissed, I was relieved that I had the fate of my sister in my hands… I would stop at nothing to save her as well! The Puppeteer was completely destroying almost all of the Shadows with a single slice of his scythe. Tomoe appeared behind is back and stabbed a Shadow through the head. The Shadows just didn't stop coming, we were all forced into a corner with the sheer number of Shadows. Will summoned the Golem which gave all of us some room to breathe.

The Golem started to toss the Shadows left and right! Yu summoned Izanagi who used Zio on most of the Shadows, hurting them, but not doing a single thing! We couldn't hear each other with how loud the music was! Just before we wiped out the last of the Shadows… hundreds more poured into the mainfloor of the Stadium… I wasn't going to give up on my sister, I kept fighting, yet I made sure I was close to Chie, just enough so I could still see her… that was, until every last Shadow in the area covered us enterly… I reached out for Chie, I wasn't going to give up on anyone or anything! I kept telling myself this… until a Shadow bashed me on the back of my head… Everything went black, I couldn't see any of my friends, I was lost, then… I fainted.

* * *

_**Oh crap… this one is way late! Sorry it took so long! Well here it is, thanks to those who have sent in their OC's so far and those who continue to comment! I hope you enjoyed and please send your feedback and any OC's ya got for this! Thanks!**_

_**Song(s):**_

_**Memories by Weezer**_

_**Into You by Zebrahead**_


	36. Chapter 36: Standing in V Formation!

May 23, 2011

Forecast… Rain in the Morning, Cloudy at night

Monday

Stadium

Nosebleed section

I slowly came to sitting upright, I couldn't remember much of what had happened to begin with. For what I did remember… my name to begin with… Em and Chie… well how in the hell could I forget them!? That's when remembered that the Shadows had overtaken us! I shot up in my seat that I almost fell off the balcony that I was set in… and from the balcony… it was at least six stories to the floor! "_Holy shiiiit!_"

"Mmmh…" I nearly jumped off the balcony when I heard a voice next to me… only to see Chie sleeping in the seat. I smiled, she looked cute like that, sleeping, and no I am not a creeper! Trust me! I took a careful look at all of my surroundings; I noticed that all of my friends were sitting in the balcony with me. I was the only one who awake at the moment… it was weird, why weren't we dead, and unharmed!? Why didn't the Shadow's kill us! Chie finally sat forward in her seat and rubbed her eyes. "Wha happoned?"

I tried not to laugh at her, god she was yawning and try to talk at the same time. When she fully woke up… she noticed the surroundings and sighed. "Oh, still her- HOLY CRAP!" That woke up everyone else! Who all had just about the same reaction as Chie. Yosuke fell right back into his chair, Yukiko and Narukami looked right over the edge. Will just shrugged… yeah, he was perfectly fine with heights…

"H-how did we get up here?" Yosuke half whined… Yu shrugged at him. I guess I was the first one to remember getting the crap kicked outta us… which was such a pleasant memory… NOT! We all just looked around the stadium, which had a plaza screen that would put Time Square and the Scrambled Crossing1 to shame! I guess Em really wanted attention… "Wha-what is with that screen!?"

"I don't know Yosuke…" I shook my head at just how stupid he sounded. "To show people in the nosebleed section what is happening on stage maybe…"

"Well, at least we know where Em's Shadow will be." Will sighed; this could be a problem… we were around six stories up… we'd be lucky if we even got close to the stage by the time that Em denied her Shadow. There was no way in hell that was gonna end without someone getting hurt… This really didn't look good… That's when the screen suddenly snapped on… and right there in the center of the screen was Em's Shadow.

"**About time you morons woke up!**" The Shadow was addressing all us, not Em, which was a surprise in its own! Usually they ignore us and only focus on their… well otherself… So this was a first… still, in the end, we had to fight it. "**You guys don't last long in fight do you? Well, having a dead family makes you a little pissed off most of the time. So you guys can understand if I almost killed ya right?**"

"The fuck!?" My jaw dropped, did she really just say dead family… me and mom were still alive. I was so freaking lost! The world was just messing with me, or at least that's what I hoped…

"**Well, now that you're up…**" The Shadow titled her head to the right and pointed out Em who was just waking up too.

"EM!" I almost jumped the balcony, but Will grabbed my shoulder before I could. I clenched my my fist with anger. I was about to kick the ever-living shit out of that Shadow, I was going to rip the Shadow's heart out and show it to its face. Ever Shadow in the world would scream in pain with how much I would harm this one Shadow! It was getting close to me being the scariest thing that everyone here had ever thought about.

"**Well, the brother who tried to die actually cares about the pathetic sister no one gives a crap about it!**" I stopped and froze the things that the Shadow were not pointed to Em, but they were pointed at me. I suddenly felt like I was gonna throw up at that moment. I understood part of what this Shadow was at that moment. I fell back into my seat… it wasn't just Em's Shadow… it was the Shadow of my family… "**Good fucking morning you little bitch!**"

I stopped hearing everything that my friends were saying at that moment… all I could hear was the Shadow and my little sister. "What… what are you!?"

"**Gah! It's so freaking boring to say it that way…**" I put both of my hands on the side of my face, trying to block out everything! "**But, I'm you, stupid! You're one hundred percent me! Now, I gonna say a few insulting things, and then I have a deal to make with you!**"

Nothing I was doing was blocking out the conversation! It was like, because I was related… I could hear everything that was being said, no matter how far away I was… "**So, if, you don't say the magic words of 'you're not me!' Me and you will have a nice little guitar battle… if you win, I go away, if I win… I replace you!**"

"Wha-" Em didn't even get to question the existence of her Shadow. The Shadow put its finger on Em's lips to get her to shut up.

"**It's a hell of a lot more far than what that lovely father did to you!**" I shook my head, if everyone asked Em, she said that she just didn't know who her dad was, but in reality… It was probably the most traumatizing experience for her to see the man she looked up to scream at her as he walked out of that door all those years ago. "**You just wanted him to listen to you play your little violin of yours. You were so happy that you were able to play it. Yet, the moment you tried to get that bastard to listen… he told you to shut the fuck up!**" I saw Em shake her head, I was there when that happened, I took a vase to the head, just so Em didn't. "**Then he hurts your brother and slammed the door in your face! You never saw him after that. You cried yourself to sleep that night… and every night after that…**"

"N-no! You're lying!" Em backed away from the creature that wore her face. She didn't know what was going on, but she had no idea where all of this was coming from, she was so scared at that moment… and I did the one thing that I said that I wouldn't have done… I gave up… "I didn't cry for that asshole!"

"**But you did…**" The Shadow walked over to a stand and grabbed a guitar that looked a bit like a scythe. "**Not only that, but the dumbass brother of ours tried to kill himself, just when you were about to get over that asshole leaving! The fucking retard just had to go and shove a freaking razor in his wrist! God did I want to strangle that bastard!**"

"N-no…" She was struggling not to say anything… I knew that she was thinking it… I had no idea what anyone was feeling when I- when I cut my wrist… I didn't care, I just wanted out… "Just shut up!"

"Em! Don't!" Yosuke yelled down at Em. She looked up to finally see all of in the balcony, and to see me finally looking down. The Shadow shook its head… and strummed a few chords.

"**I'm done bitching, just pick up that guitar…**" The Shadow turned back to us and looked all of us with an evil smile… I gulped hard. Chie put a hand on my shoulder, I looked up at her.

"Don't worry, you're a great brother…" I smiled halfheartedly at her and stood up. I looked the Shadow right in the eye. I didn't want to… but I was ready to kick its ass again!

"**You, stupid brother… pick a song for us to start out with… and she will pick the rest!**" I was confused for a moment, but then I knew that the Shadow was talking about. The battle, I had no choice but to pick a song… Damnit, here I was about to hurt my sister again. All of my friends were trying to get me not to do it. I couldn't hear them again… I watched Em grab the guitar… it was perfect for her, it had stickers of all of her favorite bands on it. Zebrahead, Greenday, My Chemical Romance, Hollywood Undead, Avenged Sevenfold… the list went on and on. Yet, unlike any guitar I had ever seen… it was turquoise, just like the highlight in her hair. She looked up at me and took a deep breath, I knew then that I need to let her do this, she wanted to beat the bitch at her own game for want she had said about our family. That's when the true Em came out for a second.

"Hey bitch, get back!" Em strummed the guitar for a moment and her Shadow just growled at her. "Come on bro, I-I don't wanna, but please… for our family…"

Every one of my friends stopped bothering me at that moment, they just looked at Em, I laughed for a moment before pointing straight at the Shadow. "You fucked up! Em won't lose! Not only will she win, but she will wipe the friggin' floor with you! The first song is-"

"What are you doing Kreed-kun!" Yukiko tried to get me to stop one last time, she was too late, Em made her choice, and if I didn't do this, Em would die. I pointed my finger up into the air and dropped my arm until I was pointing down at Em.

"_Na Na Na by My Chemical Romance!_" The Shadow got an evil smirk as she raised her fingers up to snap. The moment she did… the sound started to play out of speakers, but if I had to guess… there wouldn't be a guitar part in it. I clenched my jaw and prayed for my baby sis, she had to win, if not… we still had our Persona's…

* * *

Em looked up at her brother as the music started to slowly roll out of the speakers. She took a deep breath as the music slowly over took her. Her and her Shadow ended up playing the same parts… "_Drugs, gimme drugs, gimme drugs I don't need it, but I'll sell what you got. Take the cash and I'll keep it Eight legs to the wall! Hit the gas, kill them all. And we crawl, and we crawl, and we crawl! You be my detonator!"_

Em's Shadow took the stage first and really started to get into the music. She even started to dance with the guitar. "_Love, gimme love, gimme love! I don't need it, but I'll take what I want from your heart! And I'll keep it in a bag, in a box. Put an X on the floor! Gimme more, gimme more, gimme more! Shut up and sing it with me!"_

Then the Na Na Na started and Em ran up and slid on her knees past her Shadow, she had jeans on, not the school uniform. Also her jacket at that moment, and a black tanktop that read, "_Get Bent!"_ Still with this extra normal clothes on, she really started to rock as well, jumping and everything.

"_From mall security!"_ Kreed stood on the closest chair to him, as he directed his friends to stand in a specific way. "_To every enemy… We're on your property… Standing in V formation!"_

That's when the main melody started and Em's Shadow knocked her back a few feet, neither of them even coming close to messing up their notes! "_Let's blow an artery! Eat plastic surgery! Keep your apology! Give us more detonation! More! Gimme more! Gimme more!"_

Em smacked her Shadow with the neck of her guitar, which held after the attack. After which Em took the stage again! "_Oh, let me tell you 'bout the sad man. Shut up and let me see your jazz hands! Remember when you were a madman! Thought you was Batman! And hit the party with a gas can! Kiss me you animal!"_

The Shadow made a quick recovery and jumped over Em spinning in a 360 and landing on one foot. "_You run the company… Fuck like a Kennedy… I think we'd rather be… Burning your information! Let's blow an artery! Eat plastic surgery! Keep your apology! Give us more detonation!"_

Then the middle of the song hit and they both took center stage and played still in time. Em was running out of time, she wanted this over fast! Yet, she was strangely having fun… "_And right here. Right now. All the way in Battery City. Little children. Raise their open filthy palms. Like tiny daggers up to heaven. And all the juvee halls. And Ritalin rats. Ask the angels made from neon, and fucking garbage! Scream out "What will save us?" And the sky opened up." _

Em and her Shadow now stared at each other in the eye. She slowly understood why her Shadow was saying those things. She orginally wanted to play the violin, but her dad ruined that dream, only because when he slammed the door on her… she had her violin in the door frame. She cried because she thought her music was why her dad left… from that day on… she declared that the family was dieing. "_Everybody wants to change the world… Everybody wants to change the world… But no one, no one wants to die! Wanna try, wanna try, wanna try, wanna try, wanna try, oh! I'll be your detonator! Make no apology! It's death or victory! On my authority! Crash and burn, young and loaded!"_

Em started to spin on one foot like a ballerina and was still playing the violin. This was something that she had tried before, but… she wanted to, even if it hurt her with no one there. "_Drop like a bulletshell! Dress like a sleeper cell! I'd rather go to hell! Than be in purgatory! Cut my hair, gag and bore me! Pull this pin… Let this world explode!"_

With that Em jumped and was still spinning, she ended up going over the edge of the stage. Her Shadow stopped playing when Em started to spin, the Shadow was confused… but it made a major mistake… it stopped playing… it lost.

Just before Em slammed into the ground, someone grabbed her. Em had her eyes closed, yet she slowly opened her eyes to see her brother standing there with a grin and a giant puppet like monster behind him. "You lost… Em wins."

"**Fuuuuuuuuuuuck… that was awesome…**" Em couldn't help but laugh at her Shadow, which shrugged on the stage. "**You're right bro… I lost, I was hoping to fit in another song, but I did lose. Fair is fair, but this will only work if she figured everything out…**"

"If by that you mean why you said all those things…" Em pushed away from her brother and climbed back on the stage so she could look herself in the eye. "You said it, because you knew, I hated my dad for ruining my dream… I wanted to kill my brother for being the biggest fucking dumbasses in the world! Only cause I love him though… I wanted all four of us to be a working family… but it just wouldn't work… We're a dead family, but that doesn't mean I can't support my family when they need me in the right ways… not pushing my brother's friends away. She, what I'm saying is… you were right, I'm you and your me."

* * *

I smiled as Chie walked up next to me, I grabbed her hand and smiled at my little sister who just did the coolest fucking thing I had ever seen! Her Shadow nodded at her, and the blue light enveloped it. It changed, but not by much… most of the hair was blonde, but there was a black strip, it held a knife in its hand. The now Persona wore a blue dress with a white apron that had the Omega symbol on the pockets. I heard Em whisper the name of her Persona… "Alice…" With that, Em fell to her knees and I ran up to her.

"You did awesome!" I smiled down at her as I helped her to her feet.

"Yeah, only now I'm gonna face something scarier than that thing."

"What's that?"

"Mom."

* * *

_**BOOM! Here it is (dances around room)! I so wanted to finish this puppy up! Sorry if the song wasn't the one you wanted, but hey, why the fuck not!**_

_**Anyway, hope you enjoyed, please send feedback, and sorry to those who have been waiting for that Mass Effect Fanfiction. It will be up after the 12**__**th**__**.**_

_**But for a new treat… hope over to my page!**_

_**Song(s)**_

_**Na Na Na by My Chemical Romance**_


	37. Chapter 37: Mother of me?

May 24,2011

Forecast… Cloudy in the Morning, Rainy later in the day

Tuesday

"Sorry Chie, I'm not gonna be at school today…" Chie called me up in the morning when she noticed that I wasn't at school. I told her the truth though, which every guy should do to her unless they wanna lose their man-hood, or ya know… just be Yosuke… "Em came down with a cold and my mom wants me to help take care of her."

"_It's fine… just make sure that we get to train sometime this week, we haven't done that in a while!_" I smiled at the sound of her complaining like that, it's not that I like to hear anyone complain, just… she was right, with everything that had been happening, we haven't done our thing in a while… So, on Thursday I planned to go straight to the Flood Plain with her after school.

"I will, bye I'll talk to you later." I smiled even as I heard Chie sigh over the phone, it may difficult for us to get sometime in together, but at least we knew that we could count on each other.

"_Okay, I'll talk to you later._" I heard her phone close before the line went dead, which indicated that the call was now over. I wished that I had more time talk to her today, but my mom pulled me out of school so that she could finally see me. So, the problem was knowing where it was going to take place, because knowing her, she would just burst through the door randomly if she was coming over. And if I had to go to the inn… she'd still burst through the door randomly. So I had to get everything clean!

I flipped on my I-pod radio from my room and turned it way up! It was a time when no one was home, so… I didn't think a noise complaint was going to come in. Still I bobbed my head to the song as it played through the speakers. Where was Will in all of this… another job interview… at the local liquor store… I already knew what was going to happen the moment he even mentions knowing Yosuke… No job! I felt bad for the poor guy in that sense. Still, in the end of it all there were only so many places that he could apply, and unfortunately for him… I think the inn was the last place for him to apply at. Em was at the inn with my mom for the night if you wanted to know.

So I started to clean the living room of the house first as the song played and filled the house with noise. "_Do you know the enemy? Do you know your enemy? Well, gotta know the enemy, wah hey!"_

I started to sing along with the song with the song bobbing my head the whole way and cleaning up the house._ "__Do you know the enemy? Do you know your enemy? Well, gotta know the enemy, wah hey! Do you know the enemy? Do you know your enemy? Well, gotta know the enemy, wah hey! Violence is an energy, against the enemy! Well, violence is an energy, wah hey!"_

I really wasn't paying attention to what I was doing now, but I knew that the living was getting clean (it was really the only dirty room in the house). "_Bringing on the fury! The choir infantry! Revolt against the honor to obey! Overthrow the effigy! The vast majority! Well, burning down the foreman of control! Silence is the enemy! Against your urgency! So rally up the demons of your soul!"_

I took a break from cleaning, but only to run to the kitchen to start on the dishes. "_Do you know the enemy? Do you know your enemy? Well, gotta know the enemy, wah hey! Do you know the enemy? Do you know your enemy? Well, gotta know the enemy, wah hey! The insurgency will rise! When the blood's been sacrificed! Don't be blinded by the lies in your eyes… Sing!" _ Then the I started to wash the dishes and bob my head to the music, I was actually having fun today, just wished that it could have been with my friends… share in the fun, ya know! Yet they were stuck with King Moron… and I was stuck with a few glasses and plates. But, I had great music at the same time.

"_Well, violence is an energy, oh ay, oh ay! Well, from here to eternity, oh ay, oh ay! Well, violence is an energy, oh ay, oh ay! Well, silence is the enemy so gimme gimme revolution!" _I was about finished with the very few dishes, no I have no idea how I was getting them done that fast. Anyway, someone started to hand me the dishes. "_Do you know the enemy? Do you know your enemy? Well, gotta know the enemy, wah hey!"_

The new person just kept handing me more and more dishes as the song started coming to a close. "_Do you know the enemy? Do you know your enemy? Well, gotta know the enemy, wah hey!__  
__ Do you know the enemy? Do you know your enemy? Well, gotta know the enemy, wah hey! Overthrow the effigy! The vast majority! Burning down the foreman of control! Silence is the enemy! Against your urgency! So rally up the demons of your soul!"_

With that the song came to an end and so did the last of the dishes. "Thanks fo- wait…" Finally realizing that someone was handing the dishes… I slowly turned to find that the kitchen was empty, the next song on the play list started up.

"_We are, we are… we are made from broken pa-_" And then it stopped that fast… I was starting to get scared, so I crept out of the kitchen and into the living room and reached for my baseball bat that I took into the Shadow World with me. I slowly moved down the hall, not knowing what to expect, I moved slowly, so that I wouldn't make too much sound. Raising my baseball bat ready to attack, I reached my room and slowly counted to three… _1… 2… 3!_ Once I reached three, I flung the door open and charged in… to find that there was no one there… Now I was flipping out! What the fuck was going on!?

Then, just when I was the most on edge… I heard someone whisper in my ear. "_Boo…_" Needless to say… I flipped out and bashed my head against a wall.

* * *

Time Change: Early Morning to After School

"_Would you stop laughing!?_" I yelled at a young woman sitting on the couch next to me as I held the ice up to my head. I blacked-out for a few hours, yeah I slammed into the wall that hard! Still, the woman had light brown hair and green eyes that held a lot of mischief in them. Her skin was tan and had a slight glow to it. She wore a pink t-shirt and blue jeans, plus… flip-flops, really… really…? "_God, how are you a qualified parent!? You just about killed your son and you're laughing about it!_"

"_I'm not laughing about that, I'm laughing that you're perfectly fine!_" Yes… this woman how scared the ever-living crap out of me is my mother! How is Em the normal in the family… well this is how! God, my mother was one of the most immature people you will ever meet! She enjoyed playing pranks on her kids and dancing like a fool in public. She had the maturity of a twelve year old! God, did I love my mom! "_So, now that I've calmed down… you seem to be doing well, no new scars and what was it… one, two… no three… no, not even that! Five new contacts in your original empty phone!_"

My jaw dropped… oh, mother of God… she snooped! She looked through my phone while I was asleep! Oh, crap… no that means she saw the note I put next to Chie's name! This is bad, this is very bad! "_You snooped!?_"

"_Not only that, but the Chie girl that you talk to so much is now coming over after school, which means… now._" Oh, you have got to be joking! My mom didn't even know Japanese that well! At least not that I know of… "_Besides, _this is the perfect time to practice!"

I stopped and froze… oh god no! She could understand what was being said! Now I could no longer get away with anything! She was going to end up learning all of my secrets! Crap now I said like a preteen with a dairy. Okay, what I was truly worried about was hearing me cuss more than anything… She would kill me if she heard that… "Well, um… crap…"

"Em taught me." I rolled my eyes, of course Em did that. It was just like her to do such a thing, still in the end the world was freaking crazy and all of it was against me. That's when I remembered the bigger problem here… Chie was coming over!

"Crap!" I shot off for the door, but the moment I opened it… go figure… there was Chie. "Screw you too God…"

"Hello to you too?" Chie looked incredibly confused, and by all rights she had the right to. It was kinda confusing to both of us. "Are you okay though? Your text seemed rushed…"

"So, is this her?" My head almost hit the ceiling with how much my mom scared the living crap out of me! Of course Chie jumped too… it was kinda weird how we both just jumped. "Hellooooo! It's nice to finally meet you Chie Sotanaka! I'm Kreed's mother!"

"Mom, I think she's still getting past the whole scaring the crap out of her!" I rubbed my forehead, good… I was one second away for the whole 'Mom you're embarrassing me,' stuff! My mom held her hand out to Chie. Yet, Chie just seemed even more confused.

"H-hello…" Chie bowed to my mom for a moment. "Um, Mrs. Richards…"

"No, no, not Mrs. Richards… just Katherine Richards!" My mom brought her hand up to point into the air. I shook my head, it was a little to a shit ton of embarrassing, god, I hope she didn't scare Chie away. "Besides there's no reason to be so formal, I want to get to know the real Sotanaka. Not the, I'm gonna be a good girl around my boyfriend's parents Sotanaka!"

"O-oh." Chie was still completely confused, and I think that last statement didn't help one little bit. "Kreed, what's going on?"

"Short version, got knocked out, mom stole pone and texted you…" I was looking away from her; I just did not want my mom to tell her the note that was in the contact. I would then go to the roof and fail at flying… "So she knows that we are dating and everything." I put air quotes around everything. Chie seemed to slowly start understanding everything. My mom was crazy, and she liked everyone to know it… kinda easy to see where I got it though. But this was my girlfriend that she was acting crazy too. Still, I was surprised to when Chie started to smile at her!

"Oh, well, your son is really cool." Me and my mom both froze, you know that saying like father like son… well in my family it was like mother like son.

"What…?" We both got confused and said the word at the same time. Chie started to blush a little and moved closer to me, and slipped her hand into mine. Now I was blushing… and my mom went from the confused face to a happy one. "I see, well I see why he thinks so highly of you. I know I didn't really get information out of you, but you seem like a nice girl Chie."

She just about to respond when Will busted through the door breathing heavily. "Oh, my god, I'm never going back to the North end of the shopping district again!"

"Told 'em you know Yosuke?"

"Yes…"

* * *

_**Sorry it took so long to get it done, closing out the school year. Anyway not much I'm gonna say about this chapter except hope you enjoyed and please send feedback**_

_**Song(s):**_

_**Know Your Enemy by Green Day**_

_**We Are by Hollywood Undead**_


	38. Chapter 38: Velvet is a safe Color

May 25, 2011

Forecast… Sunny

Wednesday

"I saw a new job posting on the town bulletin board!" I was actually going to school that day, despite the fact that Em was still sick, but my mom was taking care of her. "The daily pay for being a tutor looks really good." To be honest, I wasn't trying to listen in. Just I thought that Will would have liked to hear this. Not about the tutoring job, cause, well yeah. I don't think Will is gonna want to help someone study. I just about made it to the door when someone called for me.

"Oh, good morning Kreed-kun." I didn't even try to stop in fact I just spun on one foot to see Yukiko running up to the building with a smile on her face.

"Sup, Yukiko-san?" I started to walk backwards into the building. Yukiko didn't really talk to me very much. But it wasn't like we avoided each other. It was kinda like that with a few of the members of the investigation team. I started thinking that I needed to hang-out with 'em more.

"Well, nothing really…" We of course stopped at our shoe lockers; I was still walking backwards… I'm, I can be a bit of a show off. "Is Em-chan feeling better?"

"She'll still be out of school for a while, but she's already grabbed her guitar again." My smile grew as the thought of my sister walking through those doors and cursing up a storm. It was good to know that she was getting out of the whole, I need to protect everyone I know from that pebble stage and getting back into the 'yeah I'm a punk rocker, suck it!' phase! Man would her teachers be surprised… still, she was one of the smartest people I knew so there wouldn't be much to her grades dropping. "I heard some girls talking about job postings at the gates."

"Oh, yeah." Yukiko just shrugged, we kinda just jumped to a completely different topic, Yukiko looked to the ground now, she didn't really seem like she wanted to talk about it. "The inn needs some more help, but we wouldn't know who to hire."

I swear you should have seen how fast that cell phone was up to my ear, I think Yukiko almost thought that it phased out of nowhere. Before I hit the send button though, I looked back to Yukiko. "What kind of help?"

"F-fixing things… how did you…?" I held up my hand and decided to send a text just in case if he was in an interview. I didn't even blink as I typed away the text, finally hitting the send button on the phone I slipped the phone back in my pocket.

"I just sent a text to one of the best handy-men I know… well I don't know very many so… yeah." I thought about it for a moment, I never really saw Will fix anything, but I have seen things that he had fixed before. I knew that he was good at it, which should have been enough to get that poor bastard the job. "So, anyway… Have you seen Chie? I haven't heard from her since she left my house yesterday."

"Um, well…" Yukiko looked like she was deep in thought for a moment until the thought suddenly a thought hit her. "Oh, she called me when she got home. She was incredibly happy for some reason."

I started blush greatly the moment Yukiko finished that sentence. Just as my cheeks turned bright red I heard a familiar voice. "Morning Yukiko, Kreed!"

I quickly tried to cover up my cheeks as I turned around quickly. "Ch-Chie! Morning!" I'm pretty sure that at that moment my whole face was red. Which I think confused Chie completely. At least I hope she heard what Yukiko was talking about at that moment. Which I would find out that she did. "S-so, um… how are you today?"

Now she was trying not to laugh. She moved closer to me and slipped her hand in mine. "I'm feeling good today; I really like your mom by the way."

I blushed even more now, good it was weird… I didn't want to seem embarrassed about her, or my mom. Just this was an embarrassing that I knew now that she was teasing me! "You're making fun of me now aren't you...?"

"Maybe." Chie smiled and got as close as she could to me. Then of course the bell rang, which made us both move apart as we knew King Moron would have been walking by any moment. I really didn't want to have to listen to his lectures on purity or chastity! God he could be so freaking annoying, but I still wasn't going to complain about it anytime soon, because that would result in another lecture. I was getting tired of school for a moment, but also lack of sleep was not helping one bit at all! Still, I was going to fight through it at least for Chie.

* * *

After School

"If you actually got me a job at the inn…" Will was incredibly nervous as we rode a bus down to the Amagi inn. I was going with him to help calm the poor bastard down, god he was nervous, I didn't really know why. It was just a job interview, hell half of his pay might end up going to bus fare. Still here I was sitting next to Will as he fidgeted with his hands. He started school a year earlier than most people so he was about seventeen as well. "I will flip out!"

I sighed, yeah, I was going to help calm him down, but I also wanted to check up on Em. "It won't be me who gets you the job dude."

"True enough…" Will was quiet for the rest of the ride. He quickly but in calm like way, walked to the inn. My mom was waiting outside the inn for me. "Wish me luck!"

I nodded at Will and walked up to my mom. "How's she doing?"

"Good, she was just asking to see you." I smiled and ran into the inn, almost running into Will's back.

"Sorry!" I ran through the halls listening for the sound of a guitar. I finally heard it and knocked on the door. Not even really waiting for an answer, I slowly opened the door to see Em in a tank top and shorts. "Yo!"

She looked up from her music and smiled at me. "Sup, bro?"

I smiled; yeah she was starting to act like I remember her acting like. I sat down next to her and she sneezed for a moment. "You feeling any better?"

"A little, but this damned cold keeps messing up my chords!" I tried not to laugh at her, well not at her, but with her. She was always like this, but I can tell that she was a little embarrassed about the fact that everyone show her feelings, but the way that she really was… it didn't do much to make her change her attitude. Which was a good thing, it meant that she would always be my little sister. "Hey, I can hear you snickering, bastard!"

She was smiling as the words left her mouth. She playfully shoved my shoulder, we both started to laugh. It had been a while since we last were able to talk like this, so it was good to know that we both just didn't really care if the other was making fun of them. "Well, at least I didn't make a fool of myself on stage!"

"Oh please; you always do that!" She threw herself back onto the floor and sighed slightly. "You know, it felt good… to get it off my chest you know? Just having everyone understand you, even though that you could never understand yourself."

"Yeah, I do, in fact…" I leaned forward a bit, I knew what she was saying, I've known for a while now. The fact that I thought I couldn't let people in because I thought that they would use me, or abuse me… but Chie was the first one to prove me wrong, she understood what I felt and went to comfort me, not use me. Yu actually took time to talk to me every now and then. Yosuke… well, Yosuke was Yosuke, but still. He was at least a good person, at least to the point that he didn't use the information against me. "Mine just kept yelling about how I was… well, ya know."

"Yeah, I do…" Em sat up slowly and put her head against my shoulder. She yawned a bit. "Why did you do it?"

"I that I was alone…" Em looked up at me.

"You never were…" She had no Idea who right she was.

* * *

January 1, 2010

… Unknown Time

"Wh-what the hell!" I had no idea where were I was, I had no idea how I got there. But one thing was for sure, I felt lost… It was dark, I couldn't see anything, but I could feel someone nearby. "Where… where am I?"

"You just had to go and warn someone didn't you!?" I heard the voice ringing in my head, it wasn't nearby, and it was in my head for sure. "Now, now I have to go and find a new fucking avatar! And so help me, I will kill you before anything!" I froze, k-kill me!? So I did the first thing that came to my mind… I ran, I didn't know which way I ran, but it didn't matter, I just ran. I don't know how far or long I ran, I just did. I couldn't feel my feet hit the ground after each step, but they did. "You can't get away from me! I am the Shadow of humanity! I am what humans want! Only now, I want to you to disappear!"

That moment, I fell to the ground, and smacked my head. "Please… I, did what you wanted!"

"NO! You were just a tool! Even if you did what I told you to do, this would have been the outcome!" Then, an invisible force wrapped around my neck and picked me up into the air. "Now, this game would have been so much more fun had you just LISTENED! But, still, you're a broken tool now… it's time you die!"

I could feel the air of whatever this thing was, moving to kill me. I waited for it to kill me, he was the reason I was suffering now… it was him… yet, before it happened… my eyes snapped open, I didn't even realize that they were closed… I was in a room, a weird room I had never seen before. "Igor, it has been a while, but please, his destiny comes in contact with a future guest."

I couldn't really see the person, who was talking, but I could clearly see the person, but what I did see was a blue butterfly fly away from me. In front of me on a couch and in front of a table was and older man with a large bold spot on his head and the longest noise I have ever seen. I thought I was going crazy, but I was just being chased by an invisible monster… soooo, yeah. "Welcome… to the Velvet Room."

* * *

_**Sorry, I know that this chapter is not the best in quality, but I have to give up the computer I've been using for my writing, so I just wanted to get one more out, don't worry, I can still update, but it will take a little longer than two days sometimes. Still Hope you Enjoyed, there may not be any updates this weekend, cause… I AM GRADUATING! YEAH! Well, see ya!**_


	39. Chapter 39: Truth of Midnight

May 26, 2011

Forecast... Cloudy

Thursday

"Any specific reason you wanted to talk?" I asked Yu to come up to the roof after school, there was something that I wanted to talk to him about. I would have asked Chie, but I was worried that she would think that I was nuts. Well, I think that anyone would have, especially with what I wanted to talk about.

"Yeah, j-just don't laugh..." I leaned against the fence and sighed deeply. I remembered something else about Nyarlathotep, only... I guess it wasn't really Nyarlathotep, but it was more about that Igor guy. "Have you heard about a place called... called the Velvet Room."

The way Yu reacted was completely different then what I thought it was gonna be... He did a triple take so fast that I could hear his neck pop. "N-nope, ne-never heard of it..."

"Okay then... it's just that last night..."I turned looked to the ground as a tear fell from my eye. My voice started to crack... "I finally re-remembered ev-everything..."

Yu snapped back into attention. This was big, he knew that. "I hope you're listening; cause I'm only gonna say this once..."

* * *

October 24, 2009

The Dark Hour

"Wh-what's going on?" I stood there a stared right at the person's face. I was emotionless to him. "What did you do to everyone!?"

I didn't answer him, I was already getting use to this, I didn't like though. Nyarlathotep enjoyed it. I was starting to see just how much of a monster he really was. The man started to slowly back away from me. But Nyarlathotep came out of the shadows behind him. "Welcome to my domain."

The man looked scared, so I looked away... I didn't want to see or hear him scream. But I knew what was going to happen. He would stand there as Nyarlathotep reach out to his head and fed upon his mind. I hide next to the wall as I heard him scream. "What a pitiful meal that was. Kreed, do bring me a more fitting meal next time."

"I don't want to do this!" I started to cry. The Dark Hour was almost over, but it couldn't end fast enough. It didn't help that he heard what I said.

"You don't have a choice in the matter!" I couldn't see it under his mask. But I'm pretty sure, he was smiling, the bastard only pretended to care, then turned me into an unofficial proxy! Only ever using me as a means to an end. "It must feel good... knowing you're the reason that these people are dead."

"Wh-what?" I looked back at him. I was truly scared now, I actually believed every word coming out of his mouth. I wanted to die I was so scared of myself. Yet that want eventually that want would backfire. Subjective hypnotism was a powerful thing.

* * *

Yu looked at me dumbfounded; must have been thinking the same thing I was. At least that's what I thought... until Narukami opened his mouth again. "Why would you be scared to tell Chie this? It wasn't your fault that any of that stuff happened."

I shook my head, Yu was wrong. "I let it happen, I didn't try and save anyone of those people... Nyarlathotep let me choose the victims, Yu... All of it happened because I was too scared of his power!"

"That still doesn't mean it was your fault. I bet everyone would understand what happened." I shook my head again, that was just wishful thinking. Then again, every good thing that had happened to me was originally wishful thinking.

"I still remember more if you want me to continue."

Yu just nodded.

* * *

December 31, 2009

Dark Hour

I hadn't seen Nyarlathotep in a few months, which was good, but I took his words to heart. I was the reason all those people... I-I was a monster, I made people believe what I said only so that they could be killed. I hated that feeling, I still wanted to die, I even hated talking to my family because of that feeling. I was running out of time, and I was the one pressing fast-forward. My mom was going to help me get out of the states soon, but first I had to learn to speak a different language. I would try, but if life got to be too much... I wouldn't hesitate to end mine. I sat there staring at the moon.

I hated this moon, it wasn't the moon I grew up looking at. This moon was dark and evil, it represented everything that had happened because Nyarlathotep. I started to cry slightly as I thought about all the people that I had helped him kill. The only thing that was left of them were empty shells... shadows of their former selves.

I was about to lose all hope at that moment. Yet, I noticed something, something so small and insignificant... that I-I thought about hope and everything that could happen when I left. Yet the reality about what happened was more than I could have hoped for. Still, that small thing that gave me hope... was a small butterfly that seemed to glow a bright blue. The little guy flew over to me and landed on my nose. I laughed, for once... I was happy. It had been along time since I could say that and truthfully mean it.

I smiled as the little guy fluttered a bit. My smile was large as the butterfly finally decided to fly away. I was kinda sad to watch the little guy go off on his own. Yet I had hope again, I know that I kinda sound like a broken record, but that kinda thing tends to happen to me. Yet, it seemed like for that hope to stay was little more than just wishful thinking again. I was always gonna have nothing more than that in my life. Just a little bit of wishful thinking... I guess that's all I would ever amount to.

* * *

January 1, 2010

The Fall

I was getting ready to pack up for another school once again when the Dark Hour fell. I sighed, it was just another hour that I wouldn't get any sleep because, but there was a feeling that I couldn't shake about this night. Something didn't feel right about it, the air was thicker and I felt like something was watching... not just me, but the whole room. So, I did something that I hadn't done in such a long time. I took a walk during the Midnight Hour, it snowed a few days ago, but temperature never really seemed to bother me during the Dark Hour. Yet, I still grabbed a coat. It took some time, but I finally got going, it seemed like everyone was outside for New Years this time.

Which made me feel even more uneasy with all of the coffins just lining the streets like they were waiting for someone to open them... to reveal the truth of the world to them. I didn't think anything about what was going to happen that night, but that was of course when it happened. About halfway through the Dark Hour... I felt a huge surge of energy hit me. The wave was powerful enough to send me straight to the ground! I blacked out for a moment, and when I came too... Everyone was outside of the coffins... but it was still the Dark Hour, that shouldn't have happened! I was the only one who could do that recently... I made sure of it! Yet for everyone to just wake up during the Dark Hour was unheard of! I could hear the concern in people's voices about the outside world and it's surroundings.

"Wh-what's going on!?"

"What's with the moon!?" Those were the only questions that came out of everybody's mouths. I wanted to know the answer to the former question as well! I was about to voice my concern, yet a new sound reached my ears... that of liquid and sludge smashing against the ground and screams! I quickly sat up and turned to the source of the sound... and what I saw was one of the most horrific things that anyone will ever see. I saw people around the town starting to slowly melt into a black sludge! I couldn't watch it for long, or else I would have thrown up! That's when I looked back to the moon and noticed the change in it. The moon was sliver and looked like it had a red iris of an eyeball with a pure black pupil in it.

That was more terrifying than the people turning into black sludge. I was shaking with fear as everyone around me slowly screamed in pain and fear. I couldn't control my body anymore; I was trying not to scream in distress! Suddenly... pain shot up my arm; I slowly looked down at my arm... and I started to cry. I wasn't scared of what I say, I was sad because all of that hope that I had built up was for nothing... My arm was slowly turning into the black sludge, but it was at a much slower pace than everyone else. I was crying so much that I didn't see Em run up to me. "Bro! Get off your ass! We gotta fucking move!"

"I-it doesn't matter..." Now my side started to hurt as it too started to melt. "I'm dead..."

Em grabbed me by my sides and started to drag me away, until her hand gripped the sludge that was once my side. "Br-brother...?" Em gaped at me, she knew what was happening. and it scared her to death. "N-no... Come on, Kris, you n-need to fight this!"

Em was crying now. We sat there for a moment, until Em started to gasp in pain! I turned and fell as more of me turned into the sludge... and my eyes widened in fear as I saw my sister also starting to melt! "N-no, don't take Em, she did nothing! Why!?" The sludge from both of us started to mix together as the world went dark around me. That is where Nyarlathotep started to chase me. Then the Velvet Room...

"Welcome... to the Velvet Room." Igor smiled at me. At least I think it was a smile, he looked like he was always smiling. "Pleased to make your acquaintance. I am Igor, and this is my assistant, Elizabeth."

"Good Evening." I looked behind Igor to see the girl that he was mentioning. She had silver hair and yellow eyes. She wore a dark blue elevator attendant's uniform. Igor tilted his head slightly.

"My Master seems to have taken a certain interest in you." Igor stared at me, it seemed to me like he was judging me. "Don't worry, you are asleep in your world. This room exists in between dreams and reality, mind and matter."

"W-why was I brought here?" My voice was shaking, Igor chuckled slightly.

"That is up for you to decide." Igor was kinda scaring me, but I did feel safer in the room with him. "Yet, it seems like you have an interesting destiny... but you, yourself, are not destined to be the hero. You are a vessel of power... you have been tricked by Nyarlathotep and are now like the number zero... empty, but infinite. Yet, you are not a Wild Card it would seem. Though, I believe that I have a theory to this."

"What?" I was confused by half the things that he was saying, but I understood the next thing that he said.

"The bonds that you make with people will help to shape you and your true resolve... just know that the you are now the key for seal that has saved you all..." Igor looked to the ground now. "Ah, it would seem that our time here is up. Though it may never happen, I look forward to your next visit... and do not fear, your sister is safe."

* * *

"I woke up in my bed the next, I couldn't remember anything that had happened..." I looked to the ground, I was ashamed of myself, how would I face any of my friends again... h-how would I face Chie again? I looked straight to the sky. "Go ahead... I'm ready for the insults to fly..."

Yu chuckled a bit, and that's when I felt a smaller form than Yu wrap its arms around me. "Idiot... I could never hate you for something like this." I didn't need to look down now... the tears started to flow down my cheeks.

"Thanks Yu..." I heard Yu leave the roof. I had never been happier to be sad in my life, as I was, just holding Chie in my arms at that moment. I could still hear multiple footsteps... Now the whole team knew, and I was happy about it. Finally after ten minutes, I whispered three words to the point Chie couldn't hear. "I am alive."

* * *

_**And fin! No the story is not over... This chapter finally is! It took FOREVER and a day to get this puppy done! So sorry it took so long, hope you enjoyed and feedback please!**_


	40. Chapter 40: New Student

May 27, 2011

Forecast... Cloudy

Friday

"Ow..." I half groaned the sound, after I left school yesterday day to went to go talk to Em again.

"Didn't go to well with Em?" Yosuke smirked behind me as the school day came to a close.

"I got the back of a guitar to the face the moment I opened the damned door." I leaned back in my chair and looked to the roof. Em had remembered everything about the night we almost melted. So her reaction... Beat the ever loving shit outta me for just sitting there...

I heard Yosuke trying not to laugh. I leaned back in my chair and glared at him. "You try it! A guitar hurts like a bitch!"

"I'm sure it did!" Yosuke started to burst out laughing now. I rolled my eyes and got up to leave. "I-I'm sorry Kreed, but you have to admit, it sounds hilarious!"

"I know, but I gotta go shopping for food today." I waved at Yosuke and opened to door to leave the class when I rammed into someone as I walked out the door. I grabbed the bridge of my nose "Ow, son of a- WHY AGAIN!?"

"Excuse you?" I quickly regained my composure and looked at the person I had rammed into. I was surprised by two things... one, his voice had a heavy British accent. I thought it sounded weird with the guy speaking Japanese, but hey I jump into a TV to fight monsters and save people so... I think I still win in the what the fuck department.

The guy had short black hair and green eyes. He had a yasogami uniform on, that didn't surprise me one bit. No what did surprise was, that from his accent I could tell that he was an EXCHANGE STUDENT what the hell!? How did I not know about this!?

"I-I'm sorry, what?" I raised an eyebrow at the guy, I was in too much shock to really think straight at the moment, just... just... What the fuck! There had to have been at least one rumor about this! I mean, we are in fucking Inaba! Rumors move through this town fast than a jet engine on a calm day! But you know what... fuck logic! "Who are you?"

The guy smiled at me like he was enjoying himself at the moment. I was already with that simple motion starting to dislike this guy. Then I heard his name... god that one took the freaking cake! "The name's Bond, James Bond!" I raised an eyebrow to the guy. That was the moment I could tell... he had an ego and his name didn't help calm it down any, so ya know what... screw the world I did not like this kind of person. People tended to think he was cool and he knew as well as using to his advantage.

"Really? If you're 007, then I'm Legion the Geth infiltrator." I glared at the guy just hoping to catch the man off guard. Yet it my hopes were quickly killed by this British ego maniac!

"Bloody hell, sorry about your name," His smug little grin just made me even more pissed at the guy! He was not very high on my like list at that moment, hell I think at that time King Moron was at a higher than him! King Moron! "My full name is James Bond Sykes. Well, I gotta get going Legion."

With that he left started to walk down the hall. The moment I even thought he was out of earshot... "Prick!" I looked back at Yosuke and gave him a look that did my best to ask him about what just happened. Yosuke just shrugged, so I waved it off and headed for the door. I sighed and shrugged off what happened when I heard a voice that always made me smile when I reached the front door.

"Kreed!" I spun on one foot with a large smile on my face as Chie did a half run down the stairs, she also had a big old smile on her face, which as ever was a time, just what the doctor ordered to help me calm down. Chie was at the top of the last leg of the staircase when her ankle looked like it gave out and she started to fall. "Ah!"

"Chie!" I moved quickly to try and save her from her collision with the ground. That's when, of course double-o prick showed up and grabbed Chie outta the air. Surprised, nope me neither. I was pissed, surprised? Didn't think so, now I was down right fucking FURIOUS, Chie was also blushing! Even though she was just embarrassed about being in someone's arms besides mine. That and the fact that she even started to fall, the moment that he landed on his feet again, Chie tried to get out of his grip, which I could very clearly see... Much to my relief at least.

"Are you okay?" The guy smiled as he looked down at my GIRLFRIEND! Oh, good god he was really starting to piss me the fuck off! I know, I know, 'wasn't he already doing that?' Yes, yes he was! Chie nodded as she finally got out of his grip and ran to me. I knew he was trying to be nice... but... EGO! Still, I gripped Chie's hands and gave a truthfully worried look at her.

"You sure you're okay Chie? I'd hate to know that anything happened to my favorite girl." Chie started to blush heavily as the words left my mouth. I know it seemed corny but still, I wanted the guy to know that I was with her. Any normal person would have said I was being possessive, I just didn't want someone stealing my girlfriend. Back then... god I got jealous easily...

"Y-yeah, I'm fine Kreed." I smiled down at her and ruffled her hair a bit. I never wanted her to have get that scared over that again. I made a mental note to protect her at that moment, I would not let anything harm her. "S-so anyway, Kreed, um... I was... well, before I started falling..."

I held out my hand for a moment noticing that the Bond wanna be left. "I'm sorry Chie, I have to make this joke now."

"Uh, what joke?"

"Falling for my, huh?" Chie looked at me for a moment... then she pushed my shoulder playfully and started laughing. We both did for a bit, I know that the mushy gushy stuff can seem a little too much, but I just telling you how it was that I felt at that time and place, with a little help from my friends telling me how they felt. At the end of the day, me and Chie were close enough that I swear I could have told her if I was truly an alien infiltration unit and she still wouldn't care. It was this day, that I think that my feelings for her were truly solidified. I mean, sometimes you can't truly say you know someone until you see how they react around their parents. "T-too corny?"

"Definitely!" Chie smiled at me. Then she got back to being shy again. "W-well, I was um... wondering if you wanted to come o-over to my house." I froze when I heard the words leave her mouth. I knew exactly what she was trying to do... no, not that! She trusted me enough to meet her family. "I mean that is if you want to... my parents have been asking about you... I-if you don't wanna go... I mean-"

"Chie, I would be happy to meet your parents, I mean you already meet my mom." Chie looked a little surprised for a moment, but then I quickly facepalmed. "Damnit! I can't believe that I already forgot about that!"

"What?" I started to rub the back of my neck as I realized that I forgot that I needed to go shopping!

"I'm low on food at my house and need to go to Junes for groceries!" I looked to the floor in embarrassment, god that was horrid! So to be quite honest... no, I did not meet Mr. and Mrs. Sotanaka that day... Still, I couldn't believe that I forgot about that!

"Oh, well then... how about I go with you?" I quickly smiled at Chie again, I guess all she really wanted to do was just hang out.

"I'd be happy to have you along." So, we exited the school so that we could enjoy our evening together. Which of course... we did... not even some egomaniac could ruin my time with Chie. Nothing important really happened though... but it was still nice to be with the girl that I was falling for.

* * *

_**SOOOOOooooooo... yeah, I think I lost some readers with this break... but., I'M BACK BABY! Sorry it took so long to update, busy weeks, months... still I also know that this chapter was short, but I'm also (at the time of completion) running on the caffeine of one Dr. Pepper, I am tired! Still I hope you enjoyed and please send feedback.**_

_**Also before I forget! We have our first reader submitted OC placed into the story! Thanks to magmon100 for submitting, yes, I will announce when your character is put into the story! Also, I like that a few of you sent in OCs... buuuuuuuuut... now I need some female OCs, so please, if you could! Again... sorry about the short length of the chapter, just hope you all enjoyed.**_


	41. Chapter 41: Dodgeball the Game of Champs

May 28, 2011

Forecast... Rain in the Morning cloudy in the evening

Saturday

"Are you sure you're ready for this Kreed?" Yosuke growled at me. To which I just smiled evilly.

"Brosuke, I was born ready!" We quickly looked away from each other as all of our friends were lined against the gym wall, well and a few more people as well. "My first pick will be... Mhmmm, Chie."

"Yu." Yosuke quickly pointed to the leader of our group. Chie and Yu walked up to their respected captain. I smiled at Yosuke, I had a plan, but 4 it to work... I need thee people without a doubt.

"Daisuke." Daisuke jog up and gave he a high five as he did so; now I had two of three that I needed to win!

"Kou!" Yosuke thought he knew my plan, smiling as Kou walked to join him. To really dell the effect, I cursed under my breathe.

"Mhmmmm..." Okay, so to let you in on just now, Em finally got over her cold. She was lined up like everyone else. "Em."

That was it... I had the three I needed. And Yosuke was still none the wiser. "Ai-chan." Ebihara was happy to join the team Kou was on. To be honest... she had gotten a lot nicer after the basketball game. Even apologized to Chie and eat lunch with us today.

"Yukiko-san." Yukiko looked confused as ever as she walked over to my team. The battle was going to be a brutal one... so anyway... we continued to pick team members until two people were left. "Who invited the 007 wanna-be!?"

I whisper that to Chie and shrugged at me. So I sighed and looked at a smaller girl next to Asshole number one. She was around Chie's height with shoulder length chestnut brown hair that she kept outta her face using a hair clip. Her eyes were brown as well. She had on the school uniform, but I could see shorts under the skirt that were white with so sort of design over them.

Of course all of the girls had spandex or shorts on for today. After all, everyone had agreed to a game... of... DODGEBALL! I love this game, still we had just enough people to make it a fair fight so I looked at the girl. "Hey! What's your name?"

"Me?" The girl pointed to herself bringing her dark blue arm warmers into view. I nodded at her. "Kyko Seno."

"Okay... Kyko, you're on my team." The girl quickly ran up to my team. My team was complete! Now we just had to wait for Yosuke to finish gathering up the dodgeballs that the school was letting us use. So I decided to use that time wisely. "Chie, Daisuke, Em... I have a plan!"

"Cool." Daisuke was smiling... Still, hey he was already having fun.

"You sure about this?" Chie looked just a little bit concerned for me; I guess I looked a bit too serious. Em just smiled at me... she already knew what the plan was. After all, it's how we won all of our dodgeball games.

"Calm down Chie!" Em pushed the turquoise part of her hair out of her face. "It's not like we made a bet against Yosuke. We just wanna play the game the way we always do."

"Okay..." Chie still didn't seem very convinced. Besides, there was one part that I left out of the conversation.

"Actually there was a bet." Everyone quickly looked at me. "The losing team buys the winning team Aiya's."

This made Chie's eyes grow wide. There was a chance for her to get Aiya's, now there wasn't much that would stop her. I already knew she was thinking of what to order. "Hey Daisuke?"

"Yeah dude?"

"Ever play goalie?" Daisuke just nodded at my question... well, this was going to be a hell of a lot easier for us. "Cool, your team mates are the goal today."

He nodded quickly and I turned to em and we fist bumped. We were ready now! We all line up against the wall as, well surprisingly, Mr. Kondo started to place the balls down at half court.

"Okay you all know the rules! If you get hit you're out. If someone catches the ball you threw, you're out and someone on the other team gets to come back in. If the ball hits the floor or wall then you, you are still in." Mr. Kondo stepped to the side of the court. "On your mark, get set..."

You wouldn't know it by looking at everyone on the court, but we were all friends getting ready to play a friendly game. Yet it looked like some of us were going to kill someone! Mostly me towards the wannabe spy. I really didn't like him if you couldn't tell yet. Anyway! So, we were all ready to run for the center. Anticipating the opponent moves, waiting for the- "DODGEBALL!"

Both sides made a mad dash for the center of court... except Ai, Yukiko, and me. Why didn't I run for it? Well... it was all part of the plan! There really wasn't much that I hoped would stop this plan. Everyone ran back to their team. "Em! Ball!"

I knew Em would grab at least two balls, giving her an extra. at which she threw at me. I looked for someone who was going to get cocky to hit with the ba-. A dodge ball zipped through the air and slammed right into shoulder. Knocking me off balance. "Bloody hell that was easy!" Oh go fucking figure that would happen. Em and Chie just stared at me for a second, hell everyone did... except Kyko... I noticed her as I started for the side lines, she threw the ball in her hand just as everyone started up again. Just as Kou went to throw a ball at Yukiko, Kyko's ball smacked him in the cheek... ow, but at the same time wow! Kyko had an arm. "Okay lass, you're out!"

Oh my fucking god he was calling peo- and Yukiko was out... God damnit. "Come Chie!" I started giving support as best as I could. Daisuke was Jame's next target, and of course as he wasn't paying attention Yosuke got him in the side. He ran up to me and shrugged. "Is fine dude, nice try... Em! You got this!"

"First line!" Mr. Kondo called the timer as Yosuke's team moved forward to attack, then just as they did, I noticed Yu walking to the sideline and Kyko doing a fist pump. Now I was impressed, the girl was a ninja. One of those people that you think needed help and then slit your enemies throats as you focused and the one you knew you could take.

"Ow!" I heard Ai yell out in a little bit of pain as she walked off to the side. "Nice throw whoever did that." Again... nicer! It was a miracle, still... game went on. James started from on one end of the court and started to run forward. He dodged one ball to the left, blocked another, dodged right and freaking jumped the last one to get one of the last people on my team in the face.

"Is this all you guys can do?"

"That's it... I'm pissed..." I curled my hands into fist as now the game was three, my team... to five, Yosuke's. Not that I really cared, but damn, I at least wanted that bastard to get out before we lost! "Come on Em! Chie! Kyko!"

"Second line!"

Yeah, this was so not what I thought was going to happen... a black haired girl on Yosuke's team threw a ball at Kyko, and... SHE CAUGHT IT! I moved fast, I ran onto the court and slid to a ball and blocked one ball, blocked another, a third. "Hey, Em!"

"Is it time?"

"Hell yeah!" Chie and Kyko looked confused as me and Em started to run at our opponents, Yosuke reeled back as me and Em passed by him, Em tossed her ball and it hit Yosuke's arm. I barely dodged a ball from James and got another guy on Yosuke's team. Em and me both stopped just short of the out of bounds line and did a 180 and ran back. The plan was almost done.

"Turquoise, got yeah!" Damned asshole slid in front of me, I almost fell on him, and he hit Em right in the stomach. Em just looked at him with his smugg smile.

"E-Em-senpai, are you okay?" I overhead Kyko call out in concern.

"Yeah, Chie, Kreed, Kyko..." Em walked off to the side lines. "Kick his _ass!_"

Nice save there , still the game continued. Only now, I wanted to kick some ass! Chie and me got ready to take out the last people on Yosuke's team. Which made things a little awkward when the moment we went to throw...

We both hit the last guy (besides James), who turned to us a yelled, "I'm already out you morons!"

Me and Chie both turned and looked at Kyko... damn she was good, it was almost scary how good she was at this game... She just gave us an innocent smile and the game continued... it was now three versus one. I smiled and slipped one headphone into my ear and played the i-pod.

_A warning to the people, the good and the evil, this is war. To the soldier, the civilian, the martyr, the victim, this is war. It's the moment of truth, and the moment to lie, the moment to live and the moment to die, the moment to fight, the moment to fight to fight, to fight, to fight!_

Kyko moved over to the edge of the gym and waited for a chance to strike. James simply grabbed the nearest ball and tossed it in the air a bit. This was about to get interesting.

_To the right, To the left we will fight to the death! To the edge of the earth it's a brave new world from the last to the first to the right, to the left we will fight to the death! to the edge of the earth it's a brave new world it's a brave new world!_

Chie made the first move and threw the ball straight at James's face. He deflected it, Kyko threw her ball now. Once again... he deflected it!

_A warning to the prophet, the liar, the honest, this is war. To the leader, the pariah, the victor, the messiah, this is war. It's the moment of truth, and the moment to lie, the moment to live and the moment to die, the moment to fight, the moment to fight, to fight, to fight, to fight! To the right, To the left we will fight to the death! To the edge of the earth it's a brave new world From the last to the first._

James deflected her ball and threw one at Chie, which she easily dodged. Yet, the moment she stopped moving, a ball hit her leg... she was out! I was in shock!

_To the right, To the left We will fight to the death! To the edge of the earth It's a brave new world It's a brave new world It's a brave new world! I do believe in the light Raise your hands into the sky The fight is done, the war is won Lift your hands toward the sun Toward the sun Toward the sun Toward the sun The war is won._

I just stood there as my girlfriend walked off the court sighing in defeat. I wasn't mad or anything, just amazed at what just happened, she was probably the most athletic person I knew! As I was lost in thought... I failed to notice another ball flying towards me, the moment I turned around... it was too late. _To the right, To the left We will fight to the death! To the edge of the earth It's a brave new world From the last to the first._

Just before it hit me... Kyko jumped in the way and the ball hit her in the shoulder and landed on the ground next to her. "Ow..." Now I was completely taken off guard... I had never heard or seen that happening... Kyko just saved me from getting out... I quickly snapped out of it and charged at James. We both readied our weapons of choice.

_To the right, To the left We will fight to the death! To the edge of the earth It's a brave new world It's a brave new world It's a brave new world! A brave new world The war is won The war is won A brave new world._

We were both mere inches away from each other and the balls flew through the air...

* * *

"I have never heard of a tie in dodgeball before!" Em was excited as the hole gang walked in the direction of Aiya's dinner. Yep, that's what happened... me and James hit each other at the same moment... and since everyone was getting hungry... we just decided to leave for food... though it seemed like only the members of the investigation team and Kyko wanted Aiya's this day. Meh... "That was so kickass!" Em jumped into the air as she did a fist pump with the excitement that she was feeling at that moment.

Yosuke smiled at Em's excitement. "So this is what the genius sister is really like? Who'd a thought?"

Em glared back at him, but her cheeks were a little red. "Oh, I don't know, maybe my foot up your ass!"

"You do act differently at school Em-senpai." Kyko spook up as she jogged up next to Em. She had a big smile on her face. "Though you're still kind to most people... I guess Yosuke-senpai is just annoying then."

"HEY!" I started to bust out laughing at this. Oh, that was beautiful! Yukiko also started up one of her laughing fits. After the laughter finally died down, Chie smiled a very devious smile!

"Hey, I have an idea!" We all looked at Chie as she started to sneak forward little by little. "Last one to Aiya's buys!"

Before anyone could even think of dismissing the claim, she shot forward like a bat outta hell! Everyone but Yu and me started to run. "You seem happy."

I looked back at Narukami. I had one of the biggest smiles ever on my face. "What gave it way...? I don't think I've ever been this happy, and I've made a decision... I wanna live... not for a job... or to please anyone... for me, I'm gonna live for me and the ones that I love!"

Yu smiled as he walked ahead of me. "So, your family, us, and more specifically... Chie."

I started to blush and Yu laughed... damn he was good at reading people. "Yeah..." That moment... light burst out from me and I could see my Persona... yet, somehow I noticed it start to change. the hair turned dark red and and spiked out from the back of its head to the front. it had two normal wooden arms instead of the one huge one... it held a white book in one hand and had a push pin sticking out of its chest. I heard its name resonate in my head. "Voodoo Doll..."

I looked back at Yu... and I smiled. "Damn that's gonna be useful!" and without a second thought... I ran past Yu. "Also... I'm not paying for Aiya's!"

I heard Yu laughed as he ran after me and I could have sworn he whispered something that sounded like... "Rank five huh?"

* * *

_**Sup! So... one, bet you guys didn't see that one coming! If you did... where did you hide the bug!? Anyway... all joking aside. Thanks to R4z0R for submitting Kyko. I hope you guys enjoyed and please send your feedback!**_

_**Song(s)**_

_**This is War by 30 Seconds to Mars**_


	42. Chapter 42: Deadly Lunches

May 29, 2011

Forecast... Cloudy

Sunday

"Morning..." I yawned as I slowly walked into the kitchen. Em was messing with her guitar and well was headed for the door. "Work again?"

"Yeah, I gotta go in to fix a light fixture in the lobby that hasn't been working since April."

"And they didn't have you fix it till now? Whatever..." Em shrugged for a moment and went right back to plucking at her guitar strings. I rolled my eyes and waved at Will has he left the house.

"It's Sunday, right?" I looked at Em and she nodded. I walked to the door and flung it open. "Bye!"

"Where are you going?" Em leaned over the back of the couch with such a bored look. I grinned evilly at her.

"To keep Death company." I had to laugh at her expression it was absolutely priceless!

"W-WHAT!?" I lost it at that moment, I just couldn't help myself. I started to laugh so hard I had to get on my knees just to breath. "This is NOT funny!"

"I-it's not what you think it is sis!" I stood up and motioned to the door. "Come on, I'll show you."

"If you are taking me to a room full of people hanging themselves... I'm going to shove my foot so far into your teeth, you'll be pissing painfully for a year!"

"Harsh."

* * *

Time Change: Morning to Daytime

Floodplain

Em was quiet the whole way to the Floodplain, I guess she really didn't believe me that I wasn't about to kill myself. Yet, old habits do tend to die hard. After all those years worrying about me and my health, I really couldn't blame her. Eventually I saw Hisano standing by the river bed. Smiling, I quickly walked down the steps. "Hisano!"

"What!?" Hisano quickly turned around with a scared expression on her face, but it quickly faded when she saw that it was me. "My, you frightened me there... I thought you were my husband..."

"Sorry..." I rubbed the back of my neck as Em came to a stop right next to me. Hisano looked at her with a very intrigued face. I turned to Em and smiled. "This is what I was talking about."

"My you are a very beautiful young girl." Hisano smiled at Em as she moved her turquoise stands out of her face. Em stared at Hisano with amazement, then looked to me and slapped the back of my head.

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR!?" I quickly took a step toward my sister.

"For calling a sweet old lady death ya prick!" Me and Em were now forehead to forehead. We were practically growling at each other! That's when Hisano started laughing... we both calmed down almost instantly and looked at Hisano. Em sighed and looked away from me. "You really are dense sometimes brother."

"So are you sister..." Hisano laughed at us again.

"You two are really close then." Me and Em looked back at Hisano. She looked back at the river. "Watching the river here with you Kreed-chan, like this, brings back memories... Your sister is welcome to stay too."

I waved to Em and we both just sat down next to Hisano. I looked up at Hisano. "What about the river?"

She smiled down at me. "Yes... The area around the river used to be much prettier than it is now. I met my husband here in this town. I was born and raised here, and he was part of a travelling company of actors. They'd come to town once a year..."

Em leaned over and started to whisper in my ear. "_You do this every weekend?_"

"_I'm trying too._" I noticed that Em smiled as Hisano continued her story about her husband.

"When I was small, my family took me to see the play..." She smiled a bit as she recited her memories to me and my sister. I was now trying not to cry at this moment, it was going to be oh, so sad, I just knew it was... this kinda thing always did end up that way. Em noticed this and leaned her head on my arm, anyone who did know we were siblings was so gonna get the wrong idea. "That's when I met my husband, who was a child actor. He had clear, pale skin, and he spoke completely differently from the other children... He was my first love."

"That's beautiful..." Was now also trying not to cry... god, this was not going to end in a pretty sight. "I wish I could say that when I get older..."

"I'm sure the boy you like now will see you someday." Hisano smiled down at Em, who started to turn red. Oh, now I was gonna bug the shit outta her to find out who it is; I was never going to let her live this down. Hisano looked back out over the river. "Every year, he would come... And every year, I would watch... I gathered all the courage I had and talked to him. By some miracle, he fell in love with me, too..."

"That's kinda like..." looked at the river and thought back to when me and Chie started training out here. I bright smile came to my face as Hisano continued to tell her story.

"We would just talk behind the stage. One date every year." She looked up to the sky, I knew then that this is where it started to get sad... "Haha... I thought he was just flirting with me, but I thought that was okay... But do you know what he did? He quit the company and said he would live here, and marry me!"

Em looked at the water brushing against the river bed, and sighed, not of boredom, but of want and of other things that I couldn't identify at that time. "He did fieldwork, though he didn't know how... He would come home and show me his blisters. He was so proud... I was happy back then."

"I'm jealous, you had someone very special like that... I can't even start over right..." Em almost started to sob as she slowly stood up and looked at Hisano with sad eyes.

"I'm sure the day will come where you'll be so happy you could just cry out of happiness. No, there are many people who are in the midst of happiness... They just don't realize it." The old woman smiled and put a hand on Em's shoulder. "If you don't know what you should hold dear, then your life is just a journey without a destination. Right now... All I want to do is be by his side... But I know I never will. He went to Heaven... and I will surely go to Hell."

I shot up to my feet so fast, the words that she had just spoken, they kinda pissed me off... she had done nothing wrong that I knew of; no, if anyone goes to Hell, it'd be me for trying to kill myself. "That's not true!"

"You're so kind Kreed-chan." She smiled sadly and started to walk away. "I must be going now. It gets cold here, down by the river... I'll see you later Kreed-chan, and Em-chan... it was a great pleasure to meet you."

Em bowed at Hisano with a sad smile on her face as well. "Good-bye Hisano-sama."

The moment she was gone, I looked to Em. "Come on lets get going..." So we started to trek home, but I noticed something at made me stop. "Hey, Em... is that... Will and Yukiko-san?" I pointed to the bench area near the end of Floodplain. Sure enough, both Will and Yukiko were sitting at the bench's. Yukiko had something in her lap, it almost looked like one of those boxed lunches that I've seen people at school with.

"Holy shit!" Em smiled evilly and started to move closer.

"Hey! Wait for me!" As we got closer, we started to hear the conversation... but from the sounds of it... it just started.

"It came out well, so I packed it up. Try it out." Yukiko handed the small box over to Will who swallowed hard. He opened the box, we still couldn't see it, but the moment he opened it, I could see the steam. I knew it was food.

"It looks good!" Will smiled over to Yukiko, she was smiling brightly at him. Yet, that's when Will, Em, and me all noticed the smell... god that was bad. "Hey, Yukiko... did you taste this?"

"No, I haven't. I wanted you to be the first to try it." Yukiko put on her best "angel" smile... that was never a good sign when people did that...

"W-well, here goes nothing..." Will grabbed something that looked like an omelet and took a pretty big bite... it sounded like it went good... until the crunch... It takes a long while... but Will eventually swallowed the bite... Yukiko looked away and to the ground.

"You're not about to tell me how delicious that was, are you?" Yukiko sounded like she was close to crying, but Will put his hand on her shoulder and smiled.

"There's always next time... you'll get it right!" God, you should have seen how fast Yukiko's face lit up! If they didn't soon, they would so start dating... if not... well, maybe they'd need that little... what's the word I'm looking for, oh yeah, push. That's when an all too familiar face ran past us and stopped to look at Yukiko and Will, but Yukiko got one more sentence in.

"I-I suppose... Thank you."

"What are you doing?" Nanako spoke up, Will and Yukiko both seemed very surprised by the little girl's presence. To, be honest... so was I.

"Ah, Nanako-chan..." Yukiko smiled at the sight of her though. "I was having my friend Will-kun try my boxed lunch..."

"Ooh, I want some." Nanako's face lit up like the fourth of July! I was a little scared for the poor girl at that moment, there was almost no way in hell that this was going to end well for the little girl. That is, if they had her tried it anyway's...

"I-I'm sorry, but I can't give you any. It's not good..." Yukiko seemed sad again... but 'ittle person logic was about to fix that!

"Oh." Nanako seemed to be in thought for a moment. Then she quickly replied. "If you make a good one, will you let me have some?"

"Huh...? S-sure, if you want..."

"Yay! I'm rooting for you!" There you have it folks, 'ittle person logic saved the day once again! Yukiko's face relaxed a bit as her conversation with Nanako continued. I didn't know what it was about kids that could help relax people so much, maybe it was the fact that they couldn't really lie, well when their as little as Nanako... or maybe it was just that people felt like they had to be strong for the kids... I don't know...

"Nanako-chan... Thank you. I'll do my best, okay?"

"I need to go now. I'm going to Mai-chan's house. Bye!" Will and Yukiko waved to Nanako as she walked away from the Floodplain, though I didn't think that she should have been walking around without Yu or her dad...

"Umm..." Yukiko started to blush as she tried to regain Will's attention. "I'm sorry to drag you around..."

"It's cool, I'm having a lot of fun!" WIll smiled at Yukiko, who I shit you not, looked like she was about to swoon! Or was it that she looked relieved... meh, I can't really remember... Oh, well...

"R-really? I'm glad to hear that... Only about a year left, huh...? I need to be able to do anything on my own by then..." I turned to Em with a smile on my face.

"What's that about...?

"I will never let him live this shit down!" There was no way in hell I would pass this one up!

* * *

_**Okay, I got good news and bad news... I need to tell you the bad news first... I'm going to be outta town for two weeks... I'm going on vacation with my family, so... no story updates... I know, I know... it sucks...**_

_**The good news, I will have plenty of time to type on my phone, so I should have a chapter or two ready by the time I get back! Hell, maybe even more than that! So sorry, if you guys wanna still talk, I can still communicate, I has a phone with internet!**_

_**So, as always... hope you enjoyed, please send your feedback.**_


	43. Chapter 43: An Idea

May 30, 2011

Forecast... Cloudy

Monday

"Wait, wait, wait!" Chie, Em, Yosuke, Yu, and me sat on the roof after school. Yosuke had to work after school usually, so I had no damned idea why he was here... meh, who cares. What I really was worried about was the conversation that had just started. "There is no way in HELL that a bubblely teenage popstar is better than Hollywood Undead and Avenged Sevenfold!"

"Risette isn't just some popstar!" Yosuke practically growled at me. Now, for those who are like, "but Kreed popstars rock!" I could name one person who makes everyone in that genre lose. But I will not waste my breath on that. "She's practically perfect! Her songs also have deep meanings!"

"That's all you got?" I grinned and took a deep breath. "_I just can't escape It's like you're here with me now But the words you say. They always seem to fade out. Since you been away I'm just a face in the crowd." _

Yep, I was determined to disprove Yosuke on this subject! "_Someday, Someday I know you're coming back. Down in the dirt, With your blood on my hands. I blacked out, But now I do understand, That you were too good, For this world so you left it. Everything turned red, And then you made an exit. I don't even know, If it was your time. But like all good things, That pass you by, Just like a lost soul, In the time of need."_

Em started to tap the beat of the song on the ground. _"It made me grow up fast, And put some blood on my knees. And you don't even know It's beyond you. Thinking you could never die, Like you're bulletproof. So I guess you had to leave, You were born with wings. But you were never happy, 'Til the angels sing_."

Yu and Chie both started clapping as soon as I finished my little show. So I bowed and pointed right in Yosuke's face. "That is why a autotuned grade A fake will never beat out Hollywood Undead, thank you for your time now stfugtfo!"

"You haven't even given her a chance!" Yosuke jumped to his feet and pulled out his own i-pod, this was not gonna end in a way o enjoyed... Yosuke handed me an ear bud; reluctantly... I took the small device and placed in my ear. Yosuke hit play and my ears were taken to music Hell, well not that bad, just music you would never catch me listening to. "So, how is it?"

"Still not my kinda music." I sighed loudly. "Personally... I think that there are computer programs that sound better."

"HOW CAN YOU NOT LIKE RISETTE!?" Well, you might be thinking that I hit Yosuke for yelling like that, but in truth, I fell off the thing that Chie is always sitting on.

"Because Hanamura-san." Em slowly stood up and put in one of her head phones. "Look at me and then my brother... I'm a punk rock chick and he, well, he's my brother."

"So!" Yosuke jumped in frustration now. I shook my head and Yu put a hand on his shoulder.

"I think it's time to let this one go." Yosuke turned to me and pointed right in my face. Oh god, we all thought that he was gonna start a fight.

"Then let's see who's music everyone likes more!"

"Yosuke that sounds like a stupid idea." Chie sighed as she walked up next to me. Though... Yosuke did give me an idea. Oh, I was gonna have fun with this! "Can't you two just agree th-"

"How about a battle of the bands?" I grinned at the thought, I honestly just wanted to make a fool of myself.

"W-what!?"

"Fine!" Yosuke smiled at the thought as well, well, that is until Chie smacked him.

"Don't encourage him!" I laughed and put my hands on Chie's shoulders from behind. "This is such a stupid idea!"

"So was letting Narukami-sama stick his head inside a TV, but that worked out so far!" Oh, I knew was mad at me for this. I ruffled her hair for a moment. "It'll be fine, and it's not like the loser leaves town! Don't even think about Yosuke!"

"Okay, fine. I'll be at the flood plain training a bit." Chie quickly walked to the stair well and left the roof. I winced when the door closed behind her. It didn't slam, but the look on her face... I turned to the other three with my head down.

"I-I should go talk to her..." I took a step towards the door, only to have a hand pull on my shoulder. I turned back to see Em shaking her head at me.

"Let me do it, if its for what I think it is... she won't tell you until it has been resolved."

"But!"

"No buts!"

* * *

Location Change:

Yasogami High to Flood Plain

Em slowly walked along the road to see Chie sitting on a nearby bench with her hands under her chin. A sad expression on her face. Em sigh and hopped the beach to sit next Chie, which scared the Crap outta her! "E-Em-chan! What are you doing here?"

"Complain about the exist of life itself, I mean it is a faint pain in ass." I smiled at Chie, who gave a look that you would give a crazy person! "What about you Chie-san? Enjoying the view or something else? Maybe being poed at my brother?"

"Wh-what, no!" Chie waved her hands in front of her face. "No, no, no!"

Em couldn't help but laugh. "What then?"

"I wanna protect him, but that's hard to do if he goes through with this." Chie calmed down almost instantly. Em sighed loudly before snickering at Chie. "What's funny about that!"

"Nothing, nothing; calm down sister, we don't need an injured punk rocker going to school." Em held her hands up in defense. "Its just that... I've know him forever, the day we found him in that bathroom... Blood everywhere... I-I thought I lost someone important, the doctors almost lost him. I screamed and yelled at them to bring him back. It was before I had my hair dyed though."

Em tried to hold back tears that were forming. The memory was the most painful one she ever had, the other times her brother tried to off himself, she just got pissed. "It made somethin in me snap. All I cared about was protecting him, I even stopped seeing my friends. I even thought about punching you and Yukiko-san."

Chie just stared at Em, Em really didn't like Chie at first, but after talking to her, Em even thought about asking Chie to come over just to hang out with her. "Em-chan, what are you getting at?"

"He doesn't need it anymore..." Chie just tilted her head at Em. "A protector, he's different now, he's used the pain in his life and is now using it to help others. Sure he's still an idiot and will need help as long as the case continues, but he's always loved music... this is not something he needs protecting from."

Chie looked down towards the ground now. I guess she thought Em was right. The main reason was because they both came up the hill smiling. When Chie noticed me, she waved and a decided to run over to them. "Chie... I'm sorry... I was just washed away... Um, well I mean, damnit..."

Yep I sucked at this... luckily, I was dating Chie and not someone like Ai, well... old Ai. After giggling for a moment. "It's fine, Kris, go ahead and have the competition!"

"WH-WHAT!?" This was embarrassing... "Um, I kinda already cancelled it..."

Em face palmed at that moment. "Dumbass Brother!"

"Hey, I thought it over and Yosuke agreed!" I puffed out my cheeks and looked away from the two, who proceeded to laugh at me. "H-hey! Come on give me a break!"

"Well, it would have been pretty cool to see Em-chan play the guitar again." Chie smiled brightly, at which Em's cheeks grew oh so bright red.

"C-come on! It wasn't that awesome!" Both me and Chie started to bust out laughing. It was good to laugh, even if it was with Yukiko and her endless laugh. "Fine if you wanna see it so bad, why don't you just have a garage band!"

"Em..." I stopped laughing almost immediately and gave my sister the most serious face I have ever had. (Not really...) "That... Is... The... Most... BRILLIANT IDEA YOU HAVE EVER HAD!"

"Oh Crap..." Em shook her head and started to walk away. "I have just created a monster..."

"So Chie..." I turned to her with a smile. At which she returned.

"Yeah?" I dawned an evil grin once more qbd started to run.

"Last one to Aiya's pays!"

"It is so on!" Needless to say... I lost that race.

* * *

_**I'M BAAAAAAAACK! And to celebrate... A new chapter! Please send your feedback and I hope you have enjoyed this chapter!**_

_**Song(s)**_

_**Coming Back Down by Hollywood Undead**_


	44. Chapter 44: Sunny Note and Year 17!

May 31, 2011

Forecast... Cloudy

Tuesday

"Damn its starting to get warm..." I sighed as I quickly walked through the school building. To be honest, I was just pacing because I was bored. Yes I do that a lot!

Anyway, at the moment I was in the practice building, no reason for it though, Chie didn't feel too good after school so Yukiko walked her home. Yosuke did work for once; Kou left before I could say a damned thing. Yu went straight to the shopping district, I had no idea why he spent so much time there, but I've seen him on more than one occasion with blue hat gal...

Em was in detention, I know right... it was a miracle! She pissed off King Moron by bumping into him and not apologizing... Then she argued about how was the one who should have seen her was ass in the sentence, and the rest was history.

I sighed and leaned against one of the walls. "This is getting me nowhere. I'd like to hang out with someone, but everyone freaking is busy or probably emptying out the contents of their stomachs..."

Just as the words left my mouth... I heard a door open down the hall as people started walking out of the band room. "Thanks for staying behind to clean again Ayane!"

"Oh, um..." I leaned back like trying to dodge a bullet in the Matrix to look at the door, only for me to fall flat on my back.

"Son of a...!" I gripped the back of my head for a moment before I heard a small voice behind me.

"Um... are you okay?" I quickly spun around and got to my feet my attention was then given to a small girl with short black hair and... oh god, her cheeks... They were permanently a rosy color. I thought she was a little kid until I saw her Yasogami uniform.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I rubbed my neck for a moment before looking down at her again. I had a guess of who she was.

"Oh, sorry!" She quickly bowed apologetically. To which I laughed at slightly.

"It's fine." I held out my hand. "Kreed, and you are?"

"Ayane," She slowly took my hand and shook it. "Are you K-Kreed-senpai that Narukami-senpai mentioned...?"

She seemed a little nervous at that moment. I still smiled down at the girl. "So you're friends with Yu?" She just nodded at. "I heard that you need to clean the band room right?" Again she nodded. This is when I started to frown. They were making her clean the room by herself... That just wasn't right.

"I don't mind it though, I'm not very good at playing so I try to help out as much as I can." Now I was shaking my head... these guys were practically using her as a work horse. "Though Yu-senpai usually helps me."

"And he wasn't at practice today..." Sighing loudly, I wanted to kick the crap outta Yu, but he was my friend, so I'd just tell him about it later. You know... in a pissed off voice.

Anyways... to continue! I looked from Ayane to to the band about three times before I started to walk towards the band room. "Well, let's get the job done then."

"What?" She tilted her head to look at me. Though I think she was just confused.

"Ima help you." I leaned back a bit as I entered... an almost clean band room. "Or... you already did most of it..."

* * *

Time Change:

After school to Afternoon

"Okay... not most of it." I rubbed my forehead as me and Ayane finished cleaning up the band room. It took about an hour to clean, which still wasn't that long. So no really complaints from me. "Sooooooooo... now what?"

Ayane giggled a bit at my current confusion. "Well, I was gonna go to the floodplain to practice my trombone... I'm not very good at playing."

I grinned evilly as I walked to the door. "I think I'll be the judge of that."

* * *

Location Change:

Yasogami High to Floodplain

"D-damn... I thought you said you weren't very good..." I rubbed the back of my neck as Ayane finished practicing the song that she was supposed to play for the band club in a performance that was coming up within a month or so. I guess I didn't give Yu enough credit, he had a crap ton on his plate. So I can't really blame him for leaving for a break every now and then. I wouldn't have doubted it if he had a job. "So you're just filling in for an injured band member?"

"Yeah, I feel bad taking his place." Ayane smiled up to me, which wasn't for long as I flung myself against the hillside. I started doing a lot of things here since I started at Yasogami... training with Chie, talking with Hisano, and now I was helping Ayane with her music. "But it was a chance that I couldn't pass up... t-to be honest, it was Yu-senpai who made me go for it."

"No shit, huh..." I smiled brightly as I looked at the clouds moving across the sky... it reminded me of the ending of a school year... it was so peaceful that day, I wish I could have stayed in that peace. Wait... did that actually happen, i-it was all a little fuzzy, but still... if I stayed in that peace, I never would have meet Chie, or anyone here. "I was once part of an arts club, photography..." Wait... no, that...

"Really?" Ayane looked shocked, I quickly sat up and held my forehead. Something wasn't right... I, no, there was no way... "All the other art clubs are full right now... Um, Senpai you could join one next year, right?"

"Huh?" I shook my head and stared at Ayane... "Oh, did I saw I was in one, I meant my sister, Em." Just as the words left my mouth, my phone started to ring. "Oh, sorry Ayane... crap! I'm sorry, I gotta go. My sister and friend staying with us can't cook for crap!"

"O-oh, okay, bye Senpai!" I waved at her as I ran down the road... but the moment I was out of earshot... pain suddenly shot through my head... names, faces, and things I shouldn't know... h-how was this possible! Em, never joined any clubs either, I clearly remembered joining a kendo club, a student council, photography club... w-who's Yukari?

"Wh-what the fuck..." I gripped my end as I nearly collapsed on the side of the road. "What the fuck is happening?!" After about a minute, the pain subsided... I couldn't remember anything other than my own memories now... The Dark Hour, my attempts of offing myself, moving to Inaba, the Midnight Channel, my Shadow... Chie... nothing about clubs or anything that shouldn't have been there. "What the..."

I shook my head and continued down the road toward my house... something wasn't right... I knew that much.

* * *

Time Change:

Afternoon to Evening

"Um... why the fuck is... ya know...?" I froze in my doorway as everyone of my friends sat around my living room and kitchen, hell, even Kanji was there! So was Blue Hat, but she stayed close to Yu. Yeah, not like I could tell what was going on in his head. "WHY THE FUCK IS EVERYONE HERE!?"

Okay, before you get ahead of yourself... I yelled happily but still... what the fuck? "Watch your language young man!" I spun on one foot as my mom came flying up the walkway to my house. "And, most of these people are busy tomorrow, so... I asked all of them to come here tonight."

"WHY!?" My mom quickly flew into the kitchen and down the hall. after a minute Kou hit the lights in the living room. Yosuke hit the lights in the kitchen. "Okay, not creepy at freaking all!"

That's when I saw the lights coming down from the kitchen... FUCK! How could I have forgotten what tomorrow was!? Coming into the kitchen was my mom and Chie holding a large cake with candles in it... I didn't need to count to know that there were seventeen of them... "Happy early birthday bro!"

"Happy birthday Kreed-kun!"

"Happy birthday Kreed!"

"Happy birthday Kreed-san!" Everyone yelled at once, I started laughing at my own stupidity... god this was embarassing! Then Chie stood next to me...

"Happy birthday Kris..." I didn't care at that moment, I kissed Chie, just a quick peck on the lips. God, I laughed when her face got oh so bright red! She still slipped her hand into mine as my mom already started to cut the cake.

"Blow out the candles! And who wants a corner piece!"

"Hey, mom! Wait for brother to blow out the freaking candles! You don't want your arm to catch fire again do you!?" Everyone just started to bust out laughing at that moment... it was the night ever, at the time...

* * *

_**I'm going to say this first, damnit, I'm sorry If I said that Kreed was seventeen already, I wanted to do a birthday scene, I know it's kinda short but I got it in! Also if I said when Kreed's birthday was before, I'm sorry, I've been working on this story so long, I started to forget basic information on my characters that I need! Still, I will work on it, so sorry if this chapter is like that. I still hope you all enjoyed, and send in your feedback!**_


	45. Chapter 45: Caffine and Reminders

June 1, 2011

Forecast... Cloudy

Wednesday

"I hate coffee..." I groaned loudly as I was practically spread out over my desk with my arms hanging over both sides. You see, after yesterday... I got almost no sleep at all. I blame the fact that my mother bought a cake big enough to feed half of the world!

"The rest of us got plenty of sleep, so how come you didn't?" Yu stared at me as if I had just stabbed a puppy... Okay, to be honest... the truth was that I couldn't sleep because of what happened earlier that day. I remembered things that I never did... How the fuck is that normal!?

"Too much cake?" Yu shook his head not believing a word that came outta my mouth. I grinned, face still against the cold desk. "Okay you got me... the truth is that alien rappers came down from space and threatened to shoot my homework; unless I dropped some sick beats for our leader."

"It's more believable than cake, mate." I groaned even louder as the familiar British accent hit my ears. I knew that 00Wanna be was behind me.

"You know, I like England, beautiful country, nice people, the biggest Fucking clock in the world..." I rolled my head to look at the English transfer student. I was practically snarling at him. "Then I remember that I know I rich mother from that country with an ego..."

"Didn't know you had friends in England mate." I groaned even louder crash from the coffee really smacked me in the face last hour, so I was tired as shit! I just wanted to go home. "Ah, bloody hell, I'm going to be late!" And just like that he ran out the door.

"Yu, can you help me get him outta MY head, god that guy annoys me!" Yu grinned slightly as the words left my mouth. "What, what's so funny?"

"The fact that he's gotten under your skin more than your Shadow did." I just rolled my eyes and leaned back in my chair.

"Because he's rich and has an ego; and he let's everyone know it!"

"You're rich too..."

"Shut up." I said it with a smile though... Yeah, I was kinda rich, but just about all the money I had would go towards college in a few years. Making me middle class, the way I always acted and dressed. "Still don't have an ego!" I crossed my arms and stared at Yu with an evil glare.

He just shook his head and headed for the door. "Come on."

"Huh? Why?" I was honestly confused at this point in time. God, I was an idiot at times back then.

"You said you wanted to get him off your mind." I face palmed and jumped outta my seat grabbing my stuff in the process.

"So, where are we going?"

"Junes."

"Go figure."

Location Change:

Yasogami High to Junes Foodcourt

"Yo, Narukami!" I yawned as I noticed Yosuke waving us over to "the table," you know, the table that we always sat at. I didn't think Yu had plans with anyone... So to be honest, I felt kinda bad. "Oh, Kreed, what's up?"

"You know, planning for world domination. Killing beats... the usual." Yosuke and Yu laughed. Suddenly I didn't feel so bad about coming with Yu. "So, since we're at a food court... I'm guessing we're getting food!"

"Yeah, so what are you guys gonna eat today?" Yosuke smiled as me and Yu sat down.

"Yosuke must you even ask..." I grinned evilly at him. "You still owe me a thing of steak!"

"Will you drop the streak!?" I couldn't help but laugh, he just wouldn't let it go. It was all in good fun though, I picked on Yosuke only because he knew I wasn't serious... most of the time.

We were laughing until Yosuke heard a voice behind him. Two teenage girls walked up behind him. "Hey, Hanamura!"

Oh, god... the one sounded pissed. Yosuke practically groaned when the girls tried to bother him. "What is it today?"

Now I felt sorry for him... I was already about to snap at this girl, and from the sound of his voice... I knew he had to deal with 'em a lot. "How come Kazumi can take a day off but we can't!"

_Cause your annoying, whining about something stupid..._ Or, at least that's what came to my head as I placed it on the table. I could already tell this was gonna be oh so annoying. These two just might make me slit my wrist again! Stupid gaudy whiner! "Huh?" Smooth Brosuke... smooth. Yet, all this did was make the other girl start bitching, I don't use that word lightly hear. I swear people down the street could probably hear them! Which wasn't actually very difficult since the food court was on the roof of Junes...

"We told you before, we can't work Saturdays!" Oh boo hoo, its one day, who cares!? Apparently... They did... "So when we refused, they said were going to fire us! I don't get it!" Cause they were idiots!

"Hey, I talked to the manager..." I wouldn't have even done that much, but then nothing would have gotten done. "Senpai... Have you two been taking absences without leave lately?"

"I-I just forgot to come..." Bullshit. "Besides that's not the point! What're going to do about this!? I have a date today!"

"How come you've been favoring Kazumi, huh!?" I didn't need to be a genius to know where this was going, and now I was completely pissed off! "You were like that with Saki too!"

There it was, now it was just a matter of how long I could I keep my cool. Yu seemed calm still, but it was Yu, so not saying much there... Yosuke was completely lost now. "Huh?"

"Don't try to hide it! We all know!" Then I was so close to losing my cool! I wasn't gonna beat them down, but I knew what I was gonna say. "You liked Saki and treated her special!"

"I don't think Saki-senpai has anything to do with this subject."

"Yes it does!" No it doesn't... "You told the other works to go easy on Saki too, didn't you? You think you can do anything just because you're the manager's son!?"

"So it's Kazumi now that Saki's dead?" I was at my limit... I couldn't take listening to these two much longer. "Well don't bother she has a boyfriend. Didn't you get it!? Saki didn't like you! We heard so from her! She may have acted that way but-"

"Shut the hell up!" I slammed my hands on the table, almost tipping it. I stood up so fast that I knocked my chair over. "I don't give a rat's ass who you think you are, I will not stand for you bad mouthing my friend! You lazy ass, ignorant gossip girls who can't even figure out the reason the only friends you will ever have only have three brain cells! If you are the people who remember Saki, then I feel sorry for her!"

"Whaa- Who are you!?" I kinda lost it there, so now I was kinda embarrassed. It was weird, I was still pissed as hell.

"Oh, look at the stupid hat!" Oh, this was gonna end badly. "He's the suicidal kid who's dating the town's carnivore!"

"Shut up!" I turned to Yu he surprised me with that. They weren't even bothering me that much.

"Another one..." The girls still keep trying to talk. "You shut up!"

"You're the ones who should shut up!" Good god, these girls pissed everyone off! Though, that did surprise me much. After all, they successfully pissed off two of the most level headed people I knew! That is no small task... seriously, if you piss off Yu Narukami, you done fucked up. "What do you know about Saki-senpai!? She didn't do things half-assess like you two! She looked lazy, but worked hard! She talked bad, but she was good inside! So she hated me? I knew that! But she's not hear anymore! I'm left behind!"

Damn, Yosuke, that was some heavy baggage. I didn't say anything though... "Just leave me alone."

"W-what the heck!" The girls quickly ran away from the table. I turned in their direction.

"You know that carnivore is cuter then you two could hope for!" I smiled, yelling at the girls, I noticed them look back me quickly, then look away again. I set the chair back up and looked at Yosuke. "You okay man, that seemed rough..."

"I guess, but... I just blurted out a buncha crap, huh?" I shook my head, no that was awesome... unlike me, he was able to stand up for himself.

"You were just upset." Yu leaned over and put a hand on his shoulder. Yosuke shook his head.

"N-no... I just..." Yosuke shook his head again. "Damn... Another pathetic display from Yosuke... Thanks, though. Both of you... Hearing you guys say that stuff to them... It made me happy." Yosuke sighed heavily. "I don't want to... I really don't want to, but I'll talk with Dad. At this rate, those two are gonna quit... I should tell him and apologize... I don't know... I don't know what I want to do? I don't get it... even though it's my own future. Sorry, I'll see you guys later."

Yosuke walked away... it was actually kinda sad... I felt bad for the guy. I sighed and looked at Yu. "That could have gone better..."

"You can say that again..."

"That could have gone better."

"I didn't mean literally..."

"I know."

_**That's yet another chapter down! Glad this one didn't take two weeks... right? Well anyway, hope you enjoyed and send feedback...**_


	46. Chapter 46: Partal Truth & Arrested?

June 2, 2011

Forecast... Cloudy in the Morning, Raining later in the day

Thursday

"You okay, Kris?" I slowly tried to roll my head to locate the voice. I rolled my head to the right and found the source. Chie stood next to her desk. School hadn't started yet, so I wanted a few z's. Why did I wanna sleep? Well...

"Yeah, I didn't get much sleep last night, though." I hadn't been able to sleep since the day I helped Ayane, which was only two so far... better than twenty, if you ask me. Still I was damned tired, I honestly thought about sleeping through class which wouldn't be a good idea. And then there was the reason I couldn't sleep... that damned nightmare! I almost never remembered anything about it, only in the end... some creature with a white skull face and eight coffins appears... I don't know how or why though! Yet; it almost always made me wake up on the floor or thrashing about... and if I tired to sleep again... it started all over again. Point was, now I was scared to even sleep. Which just made staying awake even more difficult. "It's nothing to worry about... though if I fall asleep, I might need you to cover for me."

"Got it." She smiled at me and sat down just as the bell rang... I already knew that today was gonna be along day...

* * *

All I could see was white, as far as the eyes could see. There was only white. It wasn't snow white, no... never snow white. This was the kind of white that was a symbol of nothing, it was so bright and brilliant, that it was blinding, yet... at the same time, it wasn't... It was difficult to explain. There was only one real why to describe it... clear.

There where no objects in this plain of existence, except for me. I tried to move forward, but my legs just wouldn't move; no matter how hard I tried... my legs just wouldn't respond to me. I felt disconnected from my body. I had no control over anything I was doing... it was a scary feeling. To have someone else at the rains, controlling how you acted, what you felt, what you believe.

Suddenly, I heard static from behind me. My head slowly turned around to see a black haired boy in a striped black and white shirt and pants. "You must first sign your name on the contract." He didn't turn around, he didn't seem to care. My head turned to see a folder on a table that appeared out of no where. My hand reached out and opened it to the title page inside. There were two names... _Philemon, Nrylathotep._ I shivered at the site of his name... The next page had names that were sketched out or burnt. On the third page... I stopped, or... what ever was controlling me did. I recognized one name, I'd seen the name before... _Maya Amano_, I couldn't remember where I'd heard it before. One the third page, there was only one name... yet it seemed as though, everything was done to keep this name on the page, _Minato Arisato_. "All it says is that you will be responsible for your actions."

The book suddenly flipped to the last page, and a name slowly started to appear. _Kristopher Richards._

"Thank you." That's when the music started. The music was an orchestra, but it sounded like a song I knew... yet at the same time, I couldn't place it. "You are not only you, you never will be until the Seal is returned what belongs to it."

I had no idea what this kid was talking about, he made sense what's so ever. Everything slowly spun until... out of no where, a stair case slowly folded outta the ground, rising to the sky. At least what I assumed was the sky, until it slowly faded away into a calm star filled night. "If you want, I can come with, we're still friends after all."

I didn't answer him... I didn't even know him. So to me, he was just speaking nonsense. Still, I began to walk up the stair case. The stairs were not connected by anything, they just floated there, suspended in midair. They had flat smooth surfaces, almost like they were oddly shaped pearls rather than stairs to walk upon. The stars grew larger the further I ascended the seemingly endless walkway.

The higher I climbed the more I noticed a uneasy feeling in my stomach. Kinda like when you get butterflies in your stomach. The more I climbed the more I became aware of it slowly growing until I even felt it in my head as well.

After what seemed to be hours, we finally came to a platform... Yet least, that's what the field clouds acted like. It was a flat surface on top of clouds. Yet all that was there was just an amazing view of what looked like the universe. After a few moments, the boy walked past me, that's when I realized, I still have yet to see his face.

"Here we are, I brought you here to see what you have become. To show you the miracle you performed... but it seems, you are not yet ready to see it." Now I was lost. Who was he... he couldn't have been talking to me. It was getting difficult to concentrate with the tingling feeling I was having. "Sorry, but I have to wake you... I have to do the same way as last time."

That's when he turned around. If I could have, I might have screamed, but I was not in control. His face was pure white with empty holes for eyes that seemed to peer into my very soul. That's when it happened... Something forced its way up my throat... I thought I was going to vomit!, until the hands shot out of my mouth they were trying to grip something! Yet there was one thing for sure... I felt like I was getting ripped apart from the inside out!

"Memento Mori..." That was the last thing I saw before the creature with the white skull and eight coffins exploded forth from me.

That was also when I suddenly woke up just as the finally bell of the day rang, with my head in my hand.

* * *

Time Change:

Early Morning to After School

"Crap, I did it again..." I rubbed my eyes as I slowly rose from my seat. I turned towards Chie. "Did you have to cover for me?"

"No, King Moron picked on Narukami today." Chie smiled as she flipped a back pack on her shoulders. "How was the nap?"

"Fine, glad I could catch a few z's, I feel a bit better." Yeah, I felt less tired, but this time... I remembered one more thing other than the creature. "Hey, does the name Maya Amano sound familiar to you?"

Chie tilted her head at me. "Kinda, why?"

"No real reason, just I swore I've heard that somewhere." I shrugged, and walked over to Chie, giving her a quick peck on the cheek. "I gotta head into town, so I'll talk to you tomorrow."

Truth is I wanted to get home, I was scared... I couldn't remember everything from the dream, but I was going to try and figure everything out, or as much as I could. "Okay, bye."

I waved back at Chie and ran out the door of the school.

* * *

Location Change:

Yasogami High to Shopping District

I still had to cut through the shopping district just to get home. It wasn't going to take to much longer, but the rain definitely slowed the process. It not only made getting around harder, but I was having difficulty thinking straight. I don't know why, guess the sound and smell of the rain was making tired again.

I was looking straight up at the sky, letting the rain run along my face. As I made it to the alley by Aiya's, someone grabbed my shoulder. "What the hell!?" I spun on one foot so fast, I almost smacked the person with my shoulder. "Oh, great... you three."

"Don't get cocky prick!" The leader of the three thugs that threatened Yukiko growled at me. "You and your little girlfriend caused us a lot a hell!"

I sighed a reached for my backpack... which still had my baseball bat in it. "Don't you guys ever learn?"

"Yeah, I did!" The guy snapped his fingers and the other two thugs, coming outta no where, grabbed my arms locking them in place.

"What the fuck!?" Now I was a little scared. Them doing this ment they had a plan that involved kicking the shit outta me. "Let me go you mother-!"

That's when I heard it... the click, I looked at the lead thug, he had a pocket knife in his hands. "It's pay back time!"

I tried to act quickly, I stomped on the smaller thug's foot, causing him to let go and grab his foot, I threw my head back to smack the bigger thug, that one hurt both of us... which allowed the leader to get in close! He swung his knife, only cutting my sleeve as I moved outta the way. King Moron was gonna kill me... The thug didn't give up there. He swung his arm downwards and the knife got my cheek. I ignored the pain and went for the knife now. I grabbed his arm as we struggled for the knife.

Yet, with my luck... the other two recovered. "Get him!" One punched me in the back of the head, but that also made me head but their leader in the nose. "Ow, you idiots!"

"Hey man maybe we shouldn't go so far..."

"Shut up!" The leader wiped some of the blood away and looked at me with pure anger. "Now you're really gonna get it!"

The leader flipped the knife around in his hand and started to bring it down, I was to dazed to do anything... I thought it was over, and that's when I heard one of the loudest sounds in world. _Bang!_ The knife fell to the ground harmlessly next to me. "Son of a bitch!"

"Back away, now!" Oh god, I knew that voice. "What did I just say mate!?"

"Shit, cops!" Wait, cops, as in plural. Where are the others? Then again, people usually say that when there's only on-

"Mr. Skyes, put the gun away, or I might have to place you under arrest with the rest of these people." Oh, the cross dresser... great.

* * *

Location Change:

Shopping District to Inaba Police Department

What happened next was that the three thugs got arrested pretty quick... but so did I for some unknown freaking reason! At the moment I was in an interrogation room. All that they gave me was one cup of coffee... "I hate coffee..." I just didn't like the taste, the smell helped me relax slightly, not much, no smell has that effect on me, music helps me calm down nothing else. Well, Chie, but I'd rather not have her see me like this... god I hated this... "I know you guys can see me, just send someone in so I can learn why I was suddenly arrested for no good reason?"

As if god himself had heard me, the door opened to reveal the cross dresser... "Good evening Mr. RIchards... I am Naoto Shirogane, we have already met." I nodded as she took a seat, she adjusted her hat slightly. "First, are you alright?"

"Yeah, just the cut on the cheek."

"Good." Naoto pulled a file off of her lap and onto the table. What the fuck is going on? "Next, I found that you have been run into more than one police station... why is that?"

"The fuck are you questioning me for?" Okay, I was instantly pissed that this person I had only met once for five seconds was trying to get the most personal information in the world about me, and that I was a suspect for something! "I was just attacked!"

"That isn't what I asked, but to simplify things, are you familiar with the murders of Miss Yamano and Saki Konishi?" My jaw dropped, this person arrested me because they thought I was the murderer! Now, I had a right to be pissed! "I'll take that as a yes. Well, so you know, you have no criminal record, but if one could get into the system and change their records-"

"THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU!?" I slammed my hands down on the table... I clenched my teeth, as I was about to give out information that I didn't like talking about.

"I-I beg your pardon?" Detective Shirogane seemed surprised at my explosion. Yeah, go figure...

"I was taken to multiple police stations because... because..." I couldn't do it... I was about to be convicted for something I was trying to solve, all because I couldn't say anything... "I..."

"Naoto, I can vouch for him, he couldn't have done it." a voice came on over the intercom... it was James... I knew it was... I didn't need his help, did I? "Mr. Richards is innocent... just look at his wrist, that's why he went to the police station... he was on suicide watch." What the fuck!? How did he just guess all of that. Still, I pulled my sleeves down and held my wrist out for Naoto to see.

"So, I see, but we can't just stop questioning him."

"Dojima said to let him go."

"Your uncle said that?" I forze... uncle... th-that meant that... Yu and James... HOW THE FUCK DIDN'T I KNOW THAT!?

"Yes, Naoto, let him go." That time it was an older male that spoke over the intercom, knew that was Dojima, Yu's... a-and James's uncle...

"Very well, Mr. Richards, you are free to go." I nodded slowly and headed for the door.

"I am so gonna have to have a talk with Yu tomorrow..." I shook my head, this was gonna get annoying fast... son of a bitch...

* * *

_**Another day another Chapter, and another bit of plot for you guys to mull over, and again, thanks to those you have stuck with me from the beginning! Well hope you enjoyed and please send feedback... and any questions you guys have... please! Until next time.**_


	47. Chapter 47: Past of Two, Full Moon 1

June 3, 2011

Forecast... Rain

Friday

"_Now I face out I hold out I reach out to the truth of my life Seeking to seize on the whole moment, yeah." _ I sighed heavily. It was after school and I was trying to hunt down James or Yu. "_Yeah, Naked truth lies only if you realize. Appearing in nobody's eyes till they sterilize. Stop the guerrilla warfare to keep it fair."_ I had school work I could have been working, instead. I didn't so much feel betrayed or anything, not like I was hunting them down. Yeah I was a little pissed yesterday... I mean come on... I was accused of murder! _"Bro change your rage to a smarter greater cause, you know the stake is high stardom is near. Those who sympathized you die killers pass by. Do not waste your time in hating flirting guys. Use your might to AIs do justice to them all." _So at the moment I was just looking for them to confront them about this, with my i-pod in. "_Now I face out I hold out I reach out to the truth of my life. Seeking to seize on the whole moment to now break away. Oh God let me out, can you let me out, can you set me free from this dark inner world. Save me now Last beat in the soul."_

I had to look like a creeper by now. This was about my third time walking around the school. I was about to give up, looking in the school, when I turned around, and once again...! Slammed face first into someone else. "Oh, god freaking damnit!"

I was getting kinda sick of doing that. Yet, when I looked up, I saw Yu holding his school books. Go figure, the one place I didn't check... the freaking library... "Um, Kreed? What are you doing?"

I quickly gripped my i-pod and paused it. "Looking for you and James... I have something I wanna talk about."

"Why both of us?"

"How come you didn't tell me you two were related?" I glared at Yu for a moment, he finally spoke up.

"Okay, yeah both of us. Got it."

* * *

Location Change:

Yasogami High to The Hill over looking town

"Okay, not gonna ask how he got this far since school ended like twenty minutes ago..." James was sitting on the bench just watch the town below. Yu sighed as we got closer and closer to him.

"You sure you wanna do this?" He seemed concerned for some reason. Why he wouldn't tell me was far beyond my compression; but hey, this was Yu we were talking about, so I didn't question it. I just walked toward James without any second thoughts.

"Hey, Skyes!?" I called out when I was closer to him. James turned around to see what the fuss was about, even if it wasn't so much of a fuss. "I have a question or two for you!"

"Bloody hell don't scare a mate like that!" I didn't think I really scared him, still I wanted to ask him the questions.

"How are you a cop?" Yes I so wanted to know this... how the hell did that happen? It did not even se-

"I'm not... I was a sort of detective back in England." That brought up more questions than it answered! Now I was really lost, how the fuck... You know what, I didn't want to know.

"What the- no, you know what, no!" I shook my head, I just wasn't gonna ask... ever. "Fine, what the heck ever... Okay, now... how the fuck are you related Yu!?"

To add effect to my question, I pointed to Yu. James hopped in his seat a little, shock quickly took over his face. "H-how, how the bloody hell do you know that!?"

"You said so yesterday..." I growled lightly. Why the hell was he acting so surprised about this? I remember it clearly! "My memory isn't that bad!"

"What are you talking about?" Now it seemed like he was just avoiding the question. This was why I didn't like the guy. "After helping Shirogane I went straight home."

"Say what?" What, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! "Then... Who...?"

"Crap, was it William?"

"William?"

"My brother." My mind completely overloaded with information at that exact moment. Brother... brother... there was two of him... I hate my life... why must god continue to torture me? "Now he is a cop."

"You're still avoiding the first question." I sighed, I had just give up on being pissed, especially for such a stupid reason. Yu flinched as the words left my mouth... he knew what was about to happen here. "How are you related to my buddy Narukami?"

James looked to the ground, his face was the same as mine when I first told Chie about trying to off myself. I instantly knew this was gonna hurt, but I've learned that talking about things tend to make them easier... of course facing a completely evil fucked up version of yourself helps with that too. Just saying... Shadows were assholes, but they served their purpose well. "I-I'm... I'm really not... I wouldn't say related..."

"Shit... I knew that was gonna happen..." I pulled my beanie down over my eyes, I felt like such a douchebag... No one wants to make fun of the orphan, or the guy on suicide watch, but give them money and suddenly they're no longer human, in fact... I was still feeling like I was a monster because of the events that took place in the Dark Hour, but I would help the memory of those people. "I'm sorry, I kinda get how you feel..."

"How the bloody hell would you mate!?" Trying to change the touchy subject, then getting pissed, ya it still bothered him... "You still have parents! I was lucky enough to still have my brother with me!"

"I wouldn't say I have parents..." Now I just took the beanie off, the damned thing was soaked from the rain anyway... I walked over and sat next to James, I suddenly understood why he acted the way he did... the same reason I did, you need mask to hide all the cuts and bruises... my I-pod suddenly turned on... I accidently hit the play button... the song that played was a slower emotional piano piece... perfect for a scene like this. "My dad walked out on me and my sis just because he wasn't getting rich off my mom... I still remember Em trying to show our dad that she could play 'Ode to Joy on her little violin... he slammed the door in her face... I ran out the back and started to throw rocks at him as he headed for the door screaming at him, 'you stupid head jerk! I hate you!' then his response... 'go fuck off you little shit! Who could care for a dumbass like you?'"

"W-wow..." James stared at me now, I knew he still didn't wanna talk about this, but give him some time, and I would talk to him about it... now I wanted to get to know him better, he still pissed me off, I just wanted to get past it.

"Yeah, I came back in with a welt on my forehead, the bastard threw a rock back." I looked at the water slowly running off the roof of the canopy for the picnic table. I laughed slightly, I could remember something like this, but not what I had for breakfast yesterday... what the hell? "My sis was crying her eyes out, so was my mom. I looked at my sister and asked her to hear her song... it took a minute for her to regain her composure, but she started to play 'Ode to Joy so beautifully, it made my mom cry all over again... Years later, I'm the one lying on the bathroom floor with cuts in my wrist waiting for death to take me..."

James was speechless, I had done my job. He felt a bit better, and I got something else off of my chest. I slapped my knees and stood up. Smiling... I said brightly... "Well, its getting late, and I gotta cook dinner for three... god I was Em or Will would try and learn how to make anything... welp, James... to be honest, it was nice talking to you... You're brother has my address no doubt, if you ever wanna talk, try there first."

"Thanks Kreed..." God, I felt like a life coach all of a sudden.

"See ya tomorrow Yu."

"Um... ok... bye Kreed-san."

* * *

_I was standing on a roof overlooking a small town, I could barely make out a bridge. It was night, but it was also that time... I could tell by the way that the moon glowed and everything had a sickly green tint to it... that's when I heard it... someone was singing. "We come out, we come out to play. We come out, we come out at Midnight. Twelve of us there were, now none of us are here." I couldn't tell who was singing, all I knew was that the voice sounded like it was coming from everywhere at once. "The first was the worst, as the cycle now began, the first, the worst of us was the Magician so happy to be. Yet only one he was to get."_

_The song was horribly out of tune and seemed like they didn't even try to rhyme. Yet, something started to happen, I could sense movement, but I was frozen in place. I couldn't look around to find out what it was... I was starting to get scared. "Follow the little swallow he did, right into the hornets nest, of which he did climb. All that came to meet him at the top of the tree were two little ones. With his knives in hand the Magician began a charge." That's when over the side of the roof a giant black mass of hands slowly came over the edge, one holding a mask that looked right at me. Suddenly, it brought up six three knives and quickly charged at me. "Yet, he was doomed to die! For the one had summoned the master of the strings, of which was destroyed by the keeper of the gates!"_

_That's when I heard a sharp cry, I was suddenly able to turn, that's when I saw the white skulled creature come flying at me, and went straight through, as though I was never there. "The poor poor Magician, was sent to the gates of hell as the keepers blade did fall."_

The world went black as I shot up in bed... the rain had stopped for the moment, and there was a break in the clouds, through which... I could see a full moon. "What the fuck is wrong with me?"

* * *

_**HI! Okay, first, I will not be in town for the weekend so I will not be updating this weekend. I'll tell you guys why after I get back, second... I no longer need OC's sorry if you had one, but send me the description and personality, you never, they might end up in another story of mine. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed and please send in feedback!**_

_**Song(s):**_

_**Both from Persona 4 OST**_

_**Reach Out to the Truth**_

_**Tranumerei**_


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